The Chief Executive Officer of Fine & Country West Africa, Mrs. Okonjo Udokanma, has been ordered by the Federal High Court in Lagos to pay Providus Bank Plc $97,982.19, which is the remaining balance of an overdraft facility connected to her World Elite Card.
Providus Bank filed the case, FHC/L/CS/901/2025, which focused on whether the defendant had accepted and used the overdraft capacity as stipulated in her account-opening agreement and whether the bank had the right to collect the unpaid balance, plus interest.
Mrs. Okonjo freely signed her account-opening forms, agreeing to Clauses 12 and 23A-B, which allow the bank to issue and collect overdrafts with relevant interest, according to Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa’s ruling.
The Court observed that she had clearly accepted and used the service when she repeatedly took out more money than she had in her account.
Although the Court upheld the bank’s ability to collect the debt, it deemed Providus Bank’s requested 26% interest rate to be excessive and lowered it to 10% annually until the amount was fully repaid.
While banks have the right to impose interest on overdrafts, Justice Lewis-Allagoa noted that “courts will intervene where such rates become unnecessarily exorbitant.”
The judge also accepted arguments made by Mitchel A. Aribisala, Providus Bank’s attorney, that the defendant acknowledged the facility and its associated responsibilities by regularly using the World Elite Card and by not contesting the bank’s claims.
Fine & Country International Realty (West Africa) Ltd. submitted a comparable motion, but it was denied. The application sought to remove a post-no-debit (PND) restriction on the defendant’s Bank Verification Number (BVN)-linked account.
Citing the ruling in JSC BTA Bank v. Ablyazov[2015] UKSC 64, the UK Supreme Court ruled that assets may be frozen even if they are not legally or beneficially owned by the debtor if the debtor has direct or indirect control over them. Lewis, Justice
Allagoa argued that the freezing order was legitimate and constitutional since Mrs. Okonjo, in her capacity as CEO, had operational authority over the company’s finances.
