MTN Nigeria has sued over twenty banks in its bid to recover about N6 billion interconnect debt from the bank accounts of SleekChip Technologies Limited, an international Direct Access and National Transit service provider in Nigeria, based on a favorable judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
This is according to associated court documents exclusively seen and reviewed by Nairametrics.
The development follows a judgment in November 2024 by Justice Peter Lifu of the FHC, which ordered SleekChip to pay the plaintiff (MTN) the sum of $1,971,409.85 in its Naira equivalent at the prevailing Central Bank rate at the time.
The court also ordered SleekChip to pay interest at the rate of 2% above the Nigerian Interbank Offer Rate on the judgment sum, calculated from the date the payment was due, being 31st January 2022, until the final liquidation of the judgment sum.
Facts of the Case
- The parties executed a network interconnect agreement (“the Agreement”) on 23rd July 2019, wherein MTN and SleekChip agreed to exchange calls and messages between their networks for a fee (“interconnect charges”) in accordance with the terms of the Agreement and provisions of the Nigerian Communication Act.
- Based on court documents, SleekChip entered the network interconnection agreement with MTN the same year.
- MTN told the court that by virtue of calls and messages exchanged between the parties, SleekChip accumulated a debt of $1,971,409.85 (“the debt”) to the credit of the applicant between January 2022 and October 2022.
- MTN claimed to have sent several demand notices to SleekChip between February 2022 and October 2022, demanding payment of the debt.
- The defendant, in a letter dated 30th May 2023, offered to pay the indebted amount on or before 20th July 2023.
“The defendant has since failed, refused, and neglected to liquidate its indebtedness to the applicant without justification.
“The defendant has never disputed the debt but has admitted its indebtedness to the applicant,” MTN’s legal team asserted.
- The telecom giant stressed that by virtue of clause 6.5 of their Agreement, SleekChip had sixty days from the date of invoicing to dispute or challenge the applicant’s invoice as provided by the Agreement, but never abided by the agreement terms.
- In the court’s judgment in 2024, seen by Nairametrics, Justice Lifu observed that SleekChip filed no defense on the merits against MTN’s case.
- Guided by the rules of the court and expressing satisfaction with the proof of service and hearing notices, the judge ordered SleekChip to pay the judgment sum.
MTN’s Actions Against Banks
- After securing the favorable judgment against SleekChip, MTN commenced garnishee proceedings against over 20 banks, seeking the attachment of the judgment sum of N3,284,055,355.93, being the Naira equivalent of the judgment sum of $1,971,409.85 due to the judgment creditor at the prevailing Central Bank Rate of NGN 1665.8410:$1 on 7th November 2024, in line with the judgment of Justice Lifu delivered on 7th November 2024, in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1264/2023.
A garnishee proceeding is a legal process wherein a judgment creditor seeks to recover a debt owed to them from a third party who holds assets belonging to the judgment debtor.
“A Garnishee Order Nisi attaching the sum of N1,926,786,156.47, being interest on the principal judgment sum as of 7th November 2024, per Order/Judgment of Hon. Justice P.O. Lifu delivered on 7th November 2024, in Suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/1264/2023,” the MTN legal team further prayed.
Court Proceedings
- On 16th May 2025, when the matter was called, the legal team of MTN and most of the banks were present in court.
- MTN’s legal team said the tech giant had received affidavits to show cause from “virtually” all the banks, detailing SleekChip Technologies’ funds domiciled with them.
- The MTN team asked the court to discharge over 10 banks from the garnishee proceedings because the judgment debtor has no account opening package with them.
- In response, Justice Lifu discharged the identified banks.
- Several banks informed the court that they had complied with his orders to show cause.
- However, they faulted MTN’s legal team’s request for further search on SleekChip Technologies’ accounts using associated BVN numbers, when the court never made such orders.
- Nairametrics gathered that the matter has been adjourned to 26th June 2025 for further hearing.
What you should know
The case highlights the communication giant’s move to recover debts through the courts.
Interconnect rate is the price that telecommunications operators pay each other for calls terminating on their networks.
In 2023, MTN received approval from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to disconnect some Value Added Service (VAS) operators over their failure to pay interconnect debts.
SleekChip Technologies, Exchange Telecommunications Limited, and others were affected.
In 2024, NCC further granted approval to MTN Nigeria to disconnect Exchange Telecommunications Limited from its network.
According to a public notice issued by the telecom regulator, the disconnection notice followed the failure to settle interconnect charges.
Earlier in 2024, the NCC issued a similar notice of disconnection regarding MTN and Globacom.
In that case, MTN was granted approval to implement a partial disconnection of Globacom over its refusal to pay interconnect debt.
Globacom was given a 10-day pre-disconnection notice. However, at the expiration of the 10 days, the Commission announced that the two MNOs had reached an agreement and there was no longer any need for disconnection.
