Defendants awarded a building contract to plaintiffs in the sum N451, 857,22.

Later vide a letter to the defendants, the contract sum was revised from N451, 857.22 to N1, 047,637.06. The defendants paid the sum of N977, 460.83 in respect of Valuation Certificate numbers 1 to 26 leaving out 1

Clause II of Exhibit 4 (Bill of Quantities) provides that the defendants could alter and vary the contract and payments for work done under the contract was to be made upon the issuance of Valuation Certificates from time to time by the defendants Architects and Quantity Surveyor.

however, there was dispute over which sums were owed and ones paid.

The learned trial Judge in a reserved judgment held that the plaintiffs were only entitled to the sum of N70,176.25 as admitted by the defendants plus interest at 10% on the sum found due. The plaintiffs were dissatisfied with the judgment and appealed to the Court of Appeal which ruled that neither party ought to be awarded judgment on the basis of the findings of the learned trial Judge. It set aside the decision of the trial Judge and made an order for a retrial.

The defendant appealed against the decision of the Court of Appeal and the plaintiffs also cross-appealed.