Facts:

The respondent is a microfinance bank and a customer of the appellant. The respondent opened a fixed deposit account with the appellant and deposited the sum of N16,797,980.10 (Sixteen Million, Seven Hundred and Ninety Seven Thousand, Nine Hundred and Eighty Naira, Ten Kobo). It was agreed between the parties that 10.5% interest rate would apply to the deposit and was to mature in 2007. In 2007, after the maturity of the deposit, the appellant failed to pay back the money to the respondent after repeated demands by the latter. The matter was eventually referred to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Consumer and Financial Protection Department (CFDP) who mediated between the parties and resolved that the appellant was in breach of the agreement. The CFPD relied on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Monetary Policy Circular to hold that the appellant was in breach and should repay the amount in the fixed deposit account with interest to the respondent. The CFPD also stated that the interest to be paid on the withheld funds should be the prevailing interest rate. In partial compliance with the directive of the CFPD, the appellant in 2013 paid back the withheld funds, but in computing the interest payable on the amount, the appellant used a different interest rate and as a result the respondent was underpaid. The total amount paid by the appellant to the respondent was N24,776,004.20 (Twenty Four Million, Seven Hundred and Seventy Six Thousand, Four Naira, Twenty Kobo).
The respondent was aggrieved and filed a claim at the High court of Lagos State against the appellant for a refund of N30,079,673.77 (Thirty Million, Seventy Nine Thousand, Six Hundred and Seventy Three Naira, Seventy Seven kobo), 23% interest rate on the sum as from March, 2013 when the refund was made, a 100% penalty on the sum as stated in the CBN Monetary Policy Circular and N500,000,000.00 (Five Hundred Million Naira) compensation for the unlawful withholding of its funds. The respondent also alleged that as a result of the breach and the illegal withholding of it funds by the appellant, its business was adversely affected resulting in shortage of funds for its operations, loss of goodwill, loss of customer base which eventually led to its license being withdrawn by the CBN. After hearing the parties, the trial court gave judgment in favour of the respondent. The court however, granted a lesser sum than what was claimed by the respondent. The court applied the 10.5% interest rate agreed by the party instead of the prevailing interest rate as directed by the CFPD. As a result of this, the court ordered the appellant to pay to the respondent additional N13,219,497 (Thirteen Million, Two Hundred and Nineteen Thousand, Four Hundred and Ninety Seven Naira) making a total of N37,995,501. (Thirty Seven Million, Nine Hundred and Ninety Five Thousand, Five Hundred and One Naira).
The appellant was aggrieved and filed a notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division urging the court to overrule the trial court. One of the issues raised in the appeal is whether the trial court had jurisdiction to hear and determine the suit being a purely administrative matter upon which both parties had already submitted to the administrative jurisdiction of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The parties filed their briefs and the respondent filed a cross appeal. The respondent in its cross appeal contended that the trial court was wrong to have used the agreed interest rate between the parties to compute the interest payable on the withheld fund as against the prevailing lending interest rate as directed by the CFPD of the CBN.