Nigeria, Feb. 10 -- The prolonged financial dispute between Nigerian banks and telecom providers over unpaid USSD fees has reached a crisis point. Telecom operators, including MTN, Airtel, Glo, and 9mobile, are owed a staggering N250 billion by banks, a debt that has accumulated over six years. This unresolved issue threatens not only the financial viability of USSD services but also places additional cost burdens on consumers through increased telecom tariffs.

To say that it is a growing debt crisis cannot be pooh-poohed by mere waves of the hands as the USSD debt issue dates back to 2019, when telecom companies initially reported that banks owed them N32 billion. By March 2021, the debt had grown to N42 billion, and by November 2022, i...