MTN Nigeria has taken legal action against more than 20 banks to recover about N6 billion owed by SleekChip Technologies Limited, a licensed international Direct Access and National Transit service provider. This follows a Federal High Court judgment in Abuja delivered in November 2024 by Justice Peter Lifu, which ordered SleekChip to pay MTN $1,971,409.85 (approximately N3.28 billion at the prevailing Central Bank rate at the time), plus interest at 2% above the Nigerian Interbank Offer Rate from January 31, 2022, until full repayment.
The dispute arose from a network interconnect agreement signed on July 23, 2019, allowing MTN and SleekChip to exchange voice calls and messages for agreed fees, known as interconnect charges. MTN alleged that SleekChip accumulated the debt between January and October 2022 by using MTN’s network but failed to settle the charges despite multiple demand notices.
SleekChip acknowledged the debt in a letter dated May 30, 2023, promising to pay by July 20, 2023, but did not fulfill this commitment. MTN’s legal team emphasized that SleekChip never disputed the debt within the 60-day window allowed by their agreement to challenge invoices.
Following the court ruling, MTN commenced garnishee proceedings to freeze and recover the judgment sum from SleekChip’s accounts held across various banks. During a court session on May 16, 2025, MTN’s lawyers presented affidavits from most banks confirming SleekChip’s funds, while some banks were discharged after confirming no accounts existed for the company. The case has been adjourned to June 26, 2025, for further hearing.
The Nigerian Communications Commission has previously authorized disconnections of operators failing to settle such debts, highlighting the sector’s ongoing challenges with interconnect billing disputes.
