Facts:

The claimant entered into contract with the defendant to carry out some internal mechanical works for a housing project belonging to the defendant. The defendant had, in 2008, made an offer to the claimant to carry out the mechanical work on some blocks of flats at Pen Cinema, Agege, Lagos. The offer letter stated that the contract sum was N10,489,946.00 (Ten Million, Four Hundred and Eighty Nine Thousand, Nine Hundred and Forty Six Naira) and that the contract was to be executed and completed within 28 (twenty eight) weeks. The claimant wrote back to the defendant accepting the offer but on certain conditions. One of the conditions was that it could not give a guarantee on the prices of the materials to be used and that given the fluctuation in prices, the contract sum may be reviewed upward as the work progresses. The defendant did not respond to the issues raised in the claimant’s letter but went ahead to make a down payment of 40% of the contract sum. The claimant proceeded with the contract, employed workers and carried out some part of the job. The defendant could not pay the balance within the period agreed for the completion of the work and consequently asked the claimant to extend the duration of time and renew its performance bond and advance payment guarantee.
The claimant responded by asking for a review of contract sum. The defendant failed to respond to the request of the claimant. In spite of the defendant’s failure to respond, the claimant continued with the work until it could no longer continue because of increase in the price of materials. The claimant eventually wrote to the defendant in February, 2010 terminating the contract. In its letter, it also requested for a joint inspection of the work done up to that point and payment. The defendant did not respond and the claimant eventually conducted the inspection with the security personnel and thereafter abandoned the work and handed over the site to the security company employed to provide security. The claimant sent to the defendant a statement of valuation and financial status alongside supporting statement of accounts and requesting to be paid a balance of N16,165,677.27 (Sixteen Million, One Hundred and Sixty Five Thousand, Six Hundred and Seventy Seven Naira, Twenty Seven Kobo).
The defendant responded contesting the determination of the contract and refused to pay. The claimant was aggrieved and filed a suit against the defendant at the High Court of Lagos State claiming the balance of N16,165,677.27 (Sixteen Million, One Hundred and Sixty Five Thousand, Six Hundred and Seventy Seven Naira, Twenty Seven Kobo) and accrued interest on the sum. The defendant filed its defence and incorporated a counter claim. In its counter claim, the defendant alleged that the extension of the contract was agreed to by the claimant and as such it was not responsible for the hike in prices of the materials and that one of the claimant’s employees was responsible for the theft of some of its materials left on the site. Furthermore, that it employed the services of consultants after the claimant left the site to do an evaluation and assessment which result revealed that the claimant was overpaid for the job done. The defendant therefore counterclaimed for the refund of the sum of N3,771,463.03 (Three Million, Seven Hundred And Seventy One Thousand, Four Hundred And Sixty Three Naira And Three Kobo) being the excess based on the job already done by the claimant. The defendant also claimed general damages for the abandonment of the work and the cost of the suit.