From Ikeja to Ogba: Victims share experiences at 44 confirmed fake job venues

Many Lagos residents hear testimonies in churches about people securing executive jobs they never applied for, hoping to replicate such success. Those who have received an unexpected job interview invitation know there’s more to these stories than meets the eye.

The invitation, typically sent via text and sometimes by email, is concise. It informs the recipient they have been invited for an interview at a specific company, often located in Ogba, Ikeja, or other parts of Lagos.

If the recipient attends the interview, which might take place on an unusual day like a public holiday, they are subjected to irrelevant lectures which set the stage for extortion.

@IrediaOseine, an X user, shared how someone who attended an interview for a job they never applied for was scammed out of N11,000.

“They contact you through sites where you’ve applied for jobs, telling you they have a role for you. When you arrive at the interview, they spend about four hours explaining their ‘business’ before asking for money to cover training and registration. Some people paid N11,000,” the user explained.

@TAdewole, another X user, recounted her experience with fake interview scams around Ikeja and Ogba in 2021. She lost her meagre resources travelling to the interview venue, only to discover she was being recruited for a network marketing scheme.

Her response came under a post sharing 44 confirmed fake job venues in Lagos.

Back in 2021, a Nairaland user detailed that many interview invitations were time wasters which cost desperate job seekers a lot of money by asking them to pay for materials and requiring a N7,000 payment.

“The second payment is N40,000 for the franchise then a step-up of over N308,000. Afterwards, you start paying daily N30,000 all for drugs,” the Nairaland user said.

In more disturbing cases, some Lagos residents who attended interviews for jobs they never applied for narrowly escaped harm. @Geophummie, an X user, shared how his sister narrowly avoided danger in 2017 after attending such an interview, only escaping because “they let her go”.

This issue is not limited to scams. In 2021, Uduak-Abasi Akpan raped and killed 26-year-old Hiny Umoren, a job seeker, after luring her to his family’s home in Nung Ikono Obio Village under the guise of offering her a job.

While these incidents highlight a serious problem, they also point to a larger, unresolved issue — unemployment.

THE PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT

Unemployment is the driving force behind these crimes, as perpetrators exploit the desperation of unemployed Nigerians. It’s also the reason many fall prey to such scams.

The unemployment rate for the third quarter of 2023 was 5%, based on the National Bureau of Statistics’ revised methodology which defines unemployment as the proportion of the labour force actively seeking and available for work.

However, this has not always been the case. In 2022, Nigeria’s unemployment rate was over 30% before the revised methodology that now includes underemployment. According to Statista, in the fourth quarter of 2020, more than 33% of the labour force was unemployed, based on the previous NBS method.

The rising cost of living combined with high unemployment and poverty rates may continue fuelling job scams. The World Bank projects that by the end of 2024, approximately 40.7% of Nigerians will live below the international poverty line.

WHAT THE POLICE CAN DO

On Saturday, X user Aramide Oyekunle shared a list of 44 fake job venues. FIJ discovered that this list has been circulating for some time, with people contributing to updating it.

Since 2019, several Nigerian human resources managers have compiled addresses of these job scammers and shared them on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and X. However, despite these efforts, the Nigerian police appear to have done little to address this growing problem.

Benjamin Hundeyin, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), did not answer phone calls. He had not responded to messages inquiring about the police’s efforts against these cases at press time.

FIJ