A Canadian-based technology company, Dynamics Intelligence, has announced plans to shut down operations in Nigeria. Following the clampdown on Nigerians involved in fraud by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the firm is in doubt of its operations in the African country.
The FBI in a press statement released in Los Angeles, California last Thursday announced the arrest of suspects in an ongoing fraud investigation, the majority of whom are Nigerians – a reported 77 out of 80.
The Founder and Chairman of Dynamics Intelligence, Jenna Bourgeois, who took to her LinkedIn page to announce the company’s decision, said that they have been faced with extortion from its Nigerian employees and contractors.
“Effective immediately, we will be closing our operations in Nigeria. Over the last year, we have faced numerous examples of employees and contractors extorting the company. While we kept giving Nigerians a chance to gain skills and employment, we cannot run a company when we can’t trust the people who work for us” the executive said.
Bourgeois further advised that foreign investors and international companies are better off giving their jobs to Indians or people of other nationalities rather than Nigerians. “Customers who wish to outsource are well-advised to seek an India-owned company for the best results,” she added.
This single act of public ‘shaming’ has attracted a lot of criticism, some of which will be substantiated in this article.
Firstly, it is sheer erroneous to generalize that all Nigerians are fraudulent (especially when considering a country with over 50 million youth). However, this is not an attempt to justify criminal activities.
Furthermore, prior to this announcement, Bourgeois had commended the effectiveness and productivity of Nigerians. She was quoted as saying that Nigerians appear more motivated and qualified than some of their counterparts in more developed countries.
“In our searches, we found many Nigerians who were more than qualified to hold positions in our company when compared to their American and Canadian counterparts” the previous post read.
In less than a year, the chairman has gone from praising a country to criticizing them amidst recent developments involving the FBI.
Moreover, despite this seemingly dominant and fixed notion about the fraudulent nature of Nigerians, the country still represents one of Africa’s finest in terms of human potential and contribution to global advancement and innovation.
There are quite a number of Nigerians representing the country in a good light. One of such is Chinedu Echeruo, the founder of a startup, HopStop.com, which was recently acquired by Apple for $1 billion.
Also, in light of recent developments, the federal government has revealed its intention to tackle these international crimes. Speaking on behalf of the government, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu said that the present administration was striving to work with all nations around the globe to fight crime.
“Nigerians are hardworking people all over the world. There are millions of our citizens out there earning a legitimate living, they don’t deserve to be so tarnished,” Shehu said.
