Ngozi runs a printing press in Ibadan. In March she delivered 5,000 branded folders to an events company. The job was ₦840,000. She invoiced on delivery, payment terms 30 days.
It is now August. She has sent seven WhatsApp messages. The first three got "we are processing it." The next two got "next week." The last two got nothing at all.
Ngozi is not unusual. She is the default. Most Nigerian MSME owners have at least one client like this, and most of them handle it the same way — a reminder, then a longer wait, then another reminder, until the debt quietly becomes a story they tell instead of money they collect.
The problem is not that Ngozi is too soft. The problem is that she has no ladder. Every message is the same message. A client who ignored reminder three has no reason to fear reminder seven.
This is what a ladder looks like.
Before you escalate anything, make sure the debt is actually clean. Clients who do not want to pay will look for a technicality, and a sloppy invoice hands them one.
Confirm all four:
If any of these are missing, fix them first. Reissue the invoice with correct terms and bank details, note the delivery evidence, and restart the clock from that date. You are not weakening your position — you are removing the excuses before you escalate.
Each rung has a different tone, a different channel, and a different consequence. That is what makes it a ladder rather than seven copies of the same message.
You do not have to use every rung. But you must never repeat one. Repeating a rung teaches the client that nothing happens next.
WhatsApp is easy to ignore. A phone call is not, and it gets you information a message never will.
Ask one specific question: "Has this invoice been approved for payment, and if so, what date is it scheduled for?"
That question separates the three reasons clients do not pay:
Write down what they say and the date they said it. You will need that later.
This is the rung most Nigerian business owners skip, and it is the most powerful one on the ladder.
If you are still delivering to a client who has not paid for the last delivery, you are financing them at 0% interest. Ngozi kept accepting small print jobs from the events company throughout May and June — which told them, clearly, that non-payment carried no cost.
Send it plainly, in writing:
"We value working with you. Invoice INV-2026-0043 for ₦840,000 has been outstanding for 30 days. We will hold new orders until it is settled, and a late payment charge of 2% per month applies from today as stated on the invoice."
Two things about that late fee. First, you can only charge it if it was stated on the invoice or in your contract before the work started — you cannot invent a penalty after the fact. Second, set it up on the invoice from day one so it is a term, not a threat.
A letter of demand is a formal written notice that you intend to take legal action. It is not a lawyer's letter by necessity — you can write it yourself — but it must contain specific things to be useful:
Send it by email and deliver a hard copy to their registered office. Keep proof of both.
Why this rung works: for most companies, a letter of demand is the first document that has to be shown to someone senior. It moves your invoice out of a junior officer's inbox and onto a desk where a decision gets made.
This is where most Nigerian MSME owners stop, because they assume court means a lawyer, a year, and more in fees than the debt is worth.
For debts under a few million naira, that is no longer true. Lagos State established a Small Claims Court within the Magistrate Court system specifically for this, and several other states — including the FCT, Ogun, Kano, Rivers and Delta — have set up equivalents.
The general shape of it:
You will need: the invoice, evidence of delivery, your payment terms, the correspondence trail, and the letter of demand. Which is precisely why the earlier rungs are worth doing properly — every rung on the ladder builds the file you eventually hand to the court.
Court rules, ceilings and fees differ by state and change over time. Confirm the current position with the Magistrate Court registry in your state, or with a qualified lawyer, before you file.
Do not involve the police. An unpaid invoice is a civil contract matter, not a crime. Nigerian courts have consistently held that the police have no role in recovering contract debts, and business owners who go this route have found themselves facing claims for unlawful detention. It is the fastest way to turn a debt you would probably win into a liability.
Do not shame them publicly. Posting a client's name on social media feels satisfying and can expose you to a defamation claim. It also tells every prospective client watching how you handle disputes.
Do not accept "we will pay next week" more than twice. The second time, ask for it in writing with a date. The third time, move up the ladder.
Do not let it drift past the limitation period. In Lagos State, a simple contract debt generally becomes unenforceable after six years. Other states vary. Six years feels far away in month three — it arrives faster than you think.
Ngozi restarted from rung one in July. She reissued the invoice with terms and bank details visible, called the finance officer and learned the invoice had never been entered into their system, sent a written notice on day 14, and paused a new order on day 30.
The events company paid ₦840,000 on the thirty-fourth day. No letter of demand, no court.
That is the usual ending. The ladder is not mainly about the top rung — it is about the client understanding, early, that there is one.
Every one of these rungs costs Ngozi time she would rather spend printing. The cheaper version is a set of defaults she now applies to every job:
That last one is what caught her out. She was tracking jobs in a notebook and payments in her banking app, and nothing joined the two. If you are in the same position, start by getting every unpaid invoice into one view — and then work out which clients are consistently the slowest to pay.
An unpaid invoice you can see is a problem you can fix. An unpaid invoice you have forgotten is simply a loss.
Lucrive tracks every invoice you issue, flags them the day they go overdue, and shows you exactly who owes you what. Free for your first 10 invoices every 30 days — no payment details needed. Start at lucrive.io
People and businesses in our examples are illustrative, not real Lucrive customers. Figures are worked examples: confirm your own position with a qualified tax adviser.