Embattled telecommunications giant 9Mobile is currently in a legal tussle over a debt of ₦4.56 billion in statutory contributions that it allegedly owes to the Industrial Training Fund (ITF).
The crisis-ridden company formerly known as Etisalat is accused of skimping on its statutory contributions between 2011 and 2015 which, according to the calculations of the ITF, amounts to ₦4.56 billion.
The tech giant is however contesting the figures, claiming that not only does it not owe the ITF any outstanding fees but it is being owed ₦276 million as balance of its overpayment to the ITF during the period in contention.
The statement of claim filed before the court by 9Mobile’s legal representative Funke Adesanya, SAN rubbished the ITF’s claim, maintaining that rather than the figure being bandied about, its due statutory training contribution for 2011-15 amounted to a much smaller ₦673 million and has been duly paid.
ITF through its lawyers has however told the court to dismiss the claims of the defendant for being frivolous, vexatious and lacking merit.
The training agency averred that the sum paid by 9Mobile not only falls woefully short of the actual indebtedness but was made only after numerous reminders from the ITF, leading the company to carry out a belated self-assessment of how much it owes.
The ITF is therefore seeking an order of court mandating the telecommunications company to pay in full the sum of ₦4.56 billion to settle its outstanding statutory training contributions and interest on the said sum at the rate of 5% per month on the outstanding debit commencing from 12th July 2017 until judgement is delivered.