Three top staff of one of
Nigeria’s telecommunications company, Globacom, are in trouble in India
The reasons for their
trouble are multifaceted
The staff are: Adewale
Sangowawa, the Executive Director, Human Resources; Tony Ighalo; and another
simply identified as Mr. Donnie.
According to a letter
obtained from the Office of the Joint Secretary and
Protector General of Emigrants, Ministry of External Affairs of India, the
Globacom staff were accused among others of engaging in illegal recruitment in
the country and failure to pay ex-staff of the company who are Indian nationals.
According to the letter
dated
December 15, 2016 and signed by M. C. Luther, Sangowawa, Ighalo and
Donnie were accused of having entered into India to engage in illegal
recruitment.
The letter, which was
copied to Ravinder Singh Yadev, the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Delhi
Police, New Delhi, said the top Globacom staff entered into the country to
recruit without meeting the requirements of the Government of India for such.
It said in part: “As per
requirement for carrying out overseas recruitment, the Foreign Employer are
required to get Demand Letter, etc duly attested by the Indian Diplomatic
Mission abroad. And, if a recruitment agency in India is involved that agency
has to be registered under Section 10 of Emigration Act, 1983. Those who do not
comply with the above and still engage in overseas recruitment activities are
not authorized to carry out overseas recruitment business without obtaining a
valid Registration Certificate. This requirement is mandatory and any
contravention of the same is an offence under Section 10 and 24 of the
Emigration Act, 1983.”
The letter, obtained by
The Eagle Online on Monday, also accused Globacom of having cheated 40 Indians
who came to Nigeria to work for it of their entitlements.
They were said not to have
been paid for over 15 months despite repeated demand for the severance package.
The letter by Luther said
though the affected staff have lodged complaints against Globacom for failure
to pay them, the company was again now in India to recruit another set of staff.
The letter thus advised
the Police: “It is imperative that these foreigners be arrested on the charges
of violation of provisions of relevant sections of Indian Penal Code and also
violation of Section 10 and 24 of the Emigration Act, 1983….
“As the above Foreigners
do not meet the above requirement for carrying out overseas recruitment
activities, you are requested to kindly get the above illegal recruiters
arrested immediately and have the matter thoroughly investigated.”
This was also the position
of another letter dated December 22, 2016 by the Indian Ministry of External
Affairs and signed by Japan Kumer Sao, the Protector of Emigrants.
Sao said since the
recruiters did not meet the requirements of the laws in India, action should be
taken against them.
Globacom, owned by one of Nigeria’s
richest men, Michael Adenuga, has had complaints lodged against it in India by
its former employees, who are Indians.
Their grouse, The Eagle
Online learnt, is the failure of the company to pay their their entitlements,
which they said has been pending for over 15 months.
The former employees were
said to have put in between seven and 10 years into the services of the company
before their exit.
Their employments, it was
gathered, were not just renewed, leading to their exit.
Some of them were said to
have left the company on October 23, 2015 without their entitlements paid and
outstanding leave for the entire period.
Globacom, according to the
employees, issued them letters that they would be paid in lieu of the notice
for the non-renewal of their contract.
Several reminders,
including emails, letters and telephone calls, to the company for the payment
of the outstanding allowances have gone unheeded.
Among those said to have
been contacted by the ex-employees, The Eagle Online gathered, were Sangowawa,
Gladys Talabi, Bisi Koleosho and Mike Jituboh.
But there has been no
response from the company.
The employees thus turned
to the Indian High Commission in Abuja for assistance.
However, this has not
yielded the desired results as the payments are still being withheld.
Thus when the staff learnt
of the arrival of the Globacom team to recruit another set of Indians, they
wrote the Ministry of External Affairs, which in turn wrote the police
demanding the arrest and trial of the top management staff for cheating and
violation of emigration rules on recruiting of Indians.
The Eagle Online learnt
that when the team got to Mumbai on December 24, 2016, this was brought to the
attention of the Ministry of External Affairs, which directed the police to
detain them.
Interrogation by the
police revealed that they arrived in India on a visit visa and not business
visa, which violates the recruitment act in India.
They were told to produce
relevant official documents to carry out further recruitment and told to suspend
further interviewing until they present relevant documents and pay the Indian
ex-staff their outstanding dues.
No one was readily
available from Globacom to respond to the development on Wednesday.
The Eagle Online is also
reporting that Globacom is in default of payment to several contractors,
including those offering Value Added Services.
In a report with the
headline: “Globacom owes service providers over N2b, defies NCC’s directives to
pay,” The Eagle Online had reported:
Globacom Nigeria Limited
is owing its vendors over N2 billion, The Eagle Online has learnt.
And despite the
intervention of the industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission,
Globacom has refused to pay the vendors who operate under the aegis of the
Wireless Applications Services Providers Association of Nigeria.
What has even made it more
painful for the WASPAN members is that the Chief Executive Officer of Globacom,
Otunba Mike Adenuga, has approved that the money be released to the service
providers.
According to documents
available to The Eagle Online, Globacom is owing members of WASPAN not less
than N2 billion as the total accruals to the Value Added Service providers was
yet to be fully computed.
In a petition to the NCC,
the WASPAN members said Globacom is owing its members over N2 billion.
In the petition, WASPAN
alleged that Globacom refused to pay them the 20 per cent that was to accrue to
them from the revenue they generated alongside the company.
This was based on earnings
from Value Added Services rendered to Globacom subscribers since 2013 by the
WASPAN members.
The petitioners also
complained that Globacom has refused to give a detailed log of the services
provided by them, which has been consumed, to show how much exactly Globacom
owes them.
The members of WASPAN are
of the opinion that the debt owed by Globacom, if fully investigated, is far in
excess of the N2 billion claimed as the total outstanding by Globacom.
The NCC, on receipt of the
petition, had mandated Globacom to produce within 30 days the detailed logs of
the services rendered by the vendors and also make immediate payment to the
members of WASPAN, who are being owed.
NCC gave Globacom a 30-day
ultimatum.
The 30 days ultimatum
expired on October 15 without Globacom complying with any of the directives of
the NCC.
In an internal memo made
available to The Eagle Online, Globacom was said to be owing the vendors
N805,022,709 as at December 2014, which remains unpaid till date.
Yet, the service providers
said they have not been paid since February 2013.
In another memo cited by
The Eagle Online, Adenuga authorised payment to the service providers.
But this is also yet to be
complied with.
Even at that, the amount
approved for payment from the debt was N208,974,917.
The management of Globacom
is claiming that it can only pay a maximum of N200 million to vendors at any
time.
Based on the contract signed with the vendors, Globacom earns 80 per cent of the revenue on Value Added Services, while the vendors earn 20 per cent.
Based on the contract signed with the vendors, Globacom earns 80 per cent of the revenue on Value Added Services, while the vendors earn 20 per cent.
Globacom is believed to
have made not less than N11.2 billion from the Value Added Services rendered by
the vendors.
A member of WASPAN said on
the development: “We believe Globacom is relying on its existence as a Nigerian
company to influence the decision of the regulatory body as it has done in past
dispensations.
“Even the second letter
written to Globacom has not made Globacom to pay up because they wrote back to
NCC saying that they are working on the payments.
“Globacom is just out to
kill Nigerian companies.
“Globacom cannot claim to be verifying the authenticity of the figures because the internal memo by the Marketing Department’s Accountant, Head of Revenue Assurance Department, Head of Internal Audit, the Director of Finance and the Director of Treasury showed that work on the revenue accruable to us had been finalised.”
Efforts to reach the
spokesmen of the company since Monday did not succeed.
..theeagleonline
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