President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Thursday met French President Emmanuel Macron for a private dinner at the Élysée Palace in Paris, hours after an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration tribunal sitting in the French capital ruled in favour of Nigeria in the long-running dispute over the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project in Taraba State.

The private dinner, according to the Presidency, underscored the enduring relationship between Nigeria and France and the commitment of both countries to strengthening bilateral cooperation.

The meeting was disclosed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who shared photographs of Tinubu and Macron at the Élysée Palace. The photographs also showed Macron’s wife, Brigitte Macron, at the dinner.

The engagement came against the backdrop of a major legal development earlier on Thursday, when an ICC arbitration tribunal in Paris rejected claims brought against Nigeria by Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited over the Mambilla power project.

The ruling represented a significant development in a dispute that has lasted for years and involved claims running into billions of dollars.

According to reports on the tribunal’s decision, Sunrise Power had pursued claims relating to the development of the Mambilla project, including a $2.35bn claim for alleged breaches connected to agreements surrounding the project. The tribunal rejected Sunrise’s claims and also ordered the company and its promoter, Leno Adesanya, to bear 75 per cent of Nigeria’s legal fees and expenses.

TheCable reported that the tribunal directed Sunrise and its promoter to refund Nigeria about $11.8m in legal fees. It also dismissed Sunrise’s claim that Nigeria breached its contractual obligations under a settlement agreement and an addendum.

Reacting to the ruling, Tinubu said the decision had removed a major legal obstacle to the development of the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project, which has been stalled for years amid contractual and legal disputes.

“This latest decision affirms the Nigerian State’s determination not to succumb to predatory and exploitative claims by corrupt local and international entities and their enablers and funders,” the President said.

Tinubu commended the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, as well as officials of the Federal Ministry of Justice, for their role in defending Nigeria’s position before the tribunal.

“On behalf of the Government and People of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I strongly commend the tremendous efforts of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, and the entire team at the Federal Ministry of Justice for their efforts in this matter,” he said.

The President also praised Nigeria’s external legal team, led by Elizabeth Oger-Gross and Tolu Obamuroh of Paul Hastings LLP, for what he described as their professional defence of the country.

Tinubu further acknowledged the contributions of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, who testified during the proceedings.

The President said the case dated back to a 2003 agreement concerning the construction of a major hydroelectric power plant in Taraba State under a build-operate-transfer arrangement.

According to the Presidency’s account of the case, the Federal Executive Council had not authorised the 2003 contract.

Tinubu also thanked former Ministers Babatunde Fashola and Suleiman Adamu, other witnesses and experts involved in the arbitration, as well as the National Security Adviser and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for their contributions to the case.

The Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project is designed around a large-scale hydroelectric generation facility in Taraba State. The project has been the subject of prolonged contractual disagreements and arbitration proceedings.

The initial dispute dates to an agreement under which Sunrise Power was to participate in the development of the project. The company subsequently commenced arbitration proceedings against Nigeria in 2017, seeking billions of dollars in compensation over alleged contractual breaches.

The legal dispute became more complicated after the Federal Government and Sunrise Power entered into a settlement arrangement in 2020. Subsequent disagreements over the implementation of that arrangement generated further claims before the ICC.

The latest tribunal ruling therefore provides a fresh development in the long-running dispute, while the Federal Government has presented it as removing a major legal barrier to the Mambilla project.

Meanwhile, Tinubu’s meeting with Macron reinforced the broader diplomatic and economic relationship between Nigeria and France.

France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs says relations between both countries have expanded considerably since 2014, with cooperation covering political, economic and cultural areas. It described Nigeria as an important partner for France because of the country’s demographic, economic, cultural and political weight in Africa.

The French government also said Tinubu’s November 2024 state visit to France gave a strategic and global dimension to the bilateral partnership and resulted in several declarations of intent covering areas including the economy, sustainable and solidarity-based investment, critical minerals, banking and the creative industries.

France’s foreign ministry said Nigeria was its largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for about 20 per cent of France’s trade with the region. It put the value of bilateral trade between the two countries at €5.1bn in 2023.

The latest Tinubu-Macron engagement therefore comes amid efforts to deepen economic and diplomatic relations between Abuja and Paris.

The Presidency’s description of the dinner focused on the longstanding relationship between Nigeria and France and the shared commitment to strengthening bilateral cooperation. No official statement reviewed in the reports indicated that the private dinner was specifically convened to discuss the Mambilla arbitration ruling.

The two developments nevertheless placed Nigeria and France at the centre of major diplomatic and legal events in Paris on Thursday, with the Tinubu-Macron meeting taking place on the same day that an ICC tribunal in the French capital delivered its decision on one of Nigeria’s most significant international commercial disputes.