MTN Nigeria has initiated legal proceedings against over 20 commercial banks to recover approximately ₦3.28 billion in interconnect fees owed by SleekChip Technologies Limited. This action follows a favorable judgment from the Federal High Court in Abuja in November 2024, which ordered SleekChip to pay MTN $1,971,409.85 for services rendered between January and October 2022. The court also mandated an interest rate of 2% above the Nigerian Interbank Offer Rate on the judgment sum, effective from January 31, 2022, until full payment is made.
To enforce the judgment, MTN Nigeria filed garnishee proceedings on November 7, 2024, aiming to freeze SleekChip’s accounts across multiple banks. In court proceedings on May 16, 2025, MTN’s legal team reported that several banks confirmed SleekChip held no accounts with them. Consequently, the court discharged these banks from the case. However, some banks contested MTN’s request to search for accounts linked to SleekChip’s Bank Verification Number (BVN), arguing that the court had not authorized such actions. The court has adjourned the matter to June 26, 2025, for further hearing.
The dispute traces back to a 2019 interconnect agreement between MTN and SleekChip, allowing call exchanges between their networks for a fee. SleekChip accumulated a debt of nearly $2 million by October 2022. Despite acknowledging the debt in May 2023 and promising payment by July 2023, SleekChip failed to fulfill its obligation, prompting MTN to seek legal redress.
This case is part of a broader issue in Nigeria’s telecommunications sector, where interconnect debts have been a recurring challenge. In 2019, such debts totaled approximately ₦165 billion, with MTN owing about 45% of this amount. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has previously intervened, approving disconnections of defaulting operators to mitigate the problem. For instance, in early 2024, the NCC authorized MTN to partially disconnect Globacom over unpaid interconnect charges, a decision that was later reversed following an amicable resolution between the parties.
The outcome of MTN’s legal pursuit against SleekChip and the involved banks could set a precedent for how interconnect debts are enforced in Nigeria’s telecom industry.
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