Bonjour,
Victoria from Techpoint here,
Here’s what I’ve got for you today:
- Court dismisses ₦1 billion suit against MTN
- Turning curiosity into a career in tech
- Nigeria cracks down on delayed airtime refunds
Nigerian court dismisses ₦1 billion suit against MTN
A ₦1 billion lawsuit against MTN Nigeria has hit a dead end, with a Lagos Federal High Court calling the case speculative, frivolous and not worth pursuing. The dispute centred on claims that the telco copied an idea for its 20th anniversary promotion.
On Tuesday, Justice Ayokunle Faji dismissed the suit filed by Walls and Gates Ltd and its managing director, Okechukwu Udeichi, who alleged that MTN lifted their “20 for 20” proposal for the company’s 2021 anniversary campaign. The court not only threw out the case but also ordered the plaintiffs to pay ₦3 million in costs to MTN, per a Punch report.
In simple terms, the court found that the plaintiffs failed to prove they had any legal rights over the idea they claimed was stolen. The judge ruled that the proposal was just that — an idea — and Nigerian copyright law protects expressions, not business concepts or promotional themes.
That matters because unsolicited pitches and big corporate campaigns often clash in court, especially when ideas look similar. This ruling reinforces a long-standing legal position: sending a proposal to a company does not automatically create a confidential or contractual relationship, especially when the idea is already in the public domain.
For context, the plaintiffs had submitted the proposal to MTN in 2019 and also circulated it to other organisations, weakening any confidentiality claims. MTN, on its part, argued that its anniversary campaign was independently developed. The court agreed, describing the lawsuit as a “gold-digging exercise” aimed at forcing a commercial relationship on the telecoms giant.
Turning curiosity into a career in tech
It started with a curious walk into a university lab and a cardboard VR headset, and ended up shaping how some of Nigeria’s biggest organisations think about emerging tech. For Babatunde Fatai, technology was never just about tools; it was about what those tools could unlock.
While studying mechanical engineering at the University of Ilorin, his first real “wow” moment came when he tried Google Cardboard VR. Watching students build simple 3D scenes and step into them using their phones completely changed how he saw mobile devices. Phones stopped being just for calls and scrolling and became gateways for building immersive experiences. That single moment pulled him into virtual reality, and he didn’t look back.
University coursework didn’t exactly support that curiosity. Mechanical engineering was largely theoretical and far removed from VR, AR, or game development, so Fatai taught himself. YouTube tutorials, student communities, late-night experiments with Unity and Blender, and plenty of system crashes became his classroom. He didn’t have the best equipment, but he had momentum and a strong urge to bring others along, organising tutorials and entering competitions across schools and borders.
Those competitions paid off. By consistently building and sharing his projects online, he caught the attention of PwC Nigeria just as it launched its Experience Centre. Before he even graduated, he was working on immersive solutions for multinationals, blending consulting with hands-on product development, so immersed that convocation barely registered.
From there, the move to MTN was almost inevitable. Already consulting for the telco at PwC, he joined as MTN pushed to reinvent itself as a tech company in the 5G era. His work now focuses on building immersive, 5G-powered experiences that show what next-generation connectivity can really do. Curious how it all unfolded? Check out Delight’s latest on After Hours for more deets.
Nigeria cracks down on delayed airtime refunds
If you’ve ever paid for airtime or data, got debited, and then stared at your phone waiting for the airtime that never came, relief may finally be on the way. Nigeria’s telecom and banking regulators are stepping in to fix one of the most annoying everyday digital payment problems.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is preparing to roll out a new refund framework that will force near-real-time refunds for failed airtime and data transactions. Once it gets final approvals, the policy is expected to kick in on March 1, 2026.
Under the new rules, if your account is debited but no airtime or data shows up, you should get an automatic refund within 30 seconds, whether the failure happened at the bank or the telco’s end. If the transaction is stuck in a “pending” state, the refund window can stretch to 24 hours, but not longer.
Why this matters is simple: failed airtime and data purchases are one of the biggest pain points for Nigerian subscribers and consistently rank among the top complaints received by the NCC. These are small but frequent transactions that power daily life, and delayed refunds often leave users frustrated and disconnected.
The framework is the result of months of talks involving banks, mobile operators, and other players, and it comes with tighter accountability. Banks and telcos will be bound by clear service-level agreements, customers must be notified by SMS after every transaction, and regulators will monitor everything via a shared dashboard. In fact, operators and banks have already refunded over ₦10 billion for failed transactions, a sign that regulators are serious about cleaning up the system.
In case you missed it
- Tunde Ebohon on building Wrkman, leadership, and creating structure for Nigeria’s informal economy
What I’m watching
- Disgusting Things Your Body Does While You Sleep (To Keep You Alive)
- Why Are People Starting to Sound Like ChatGPT? | Adam Aleksic | TED
Opportunities
- Don’t miss the Cavista Technologies Hackathon happening between February 21 and 22. Register your team and go home with cash prizes here.
- Kuda is recruiting a Head of Product (Credit). Apply here.
- Jumia is looking for a Senior Key Account Manager. Apply here.
- MTN is hiring a Specialist, International Remittance (Product Manager). Apply here.
- Don’t Miss the Africa Business Convention (ABC) 2026. It’s Africa’s #1 Business Conference & Investment Expo. It’s between February 3 and 4. Book your seat today here.
- Moniepoint is hiring for over 100 roles. Apply here.
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Have a productive week!
Victoria Fakiya for Techpoint Africa
