Promise Igwe resigned after paying Helen Eche, a recruitment agent, N1,900,000 for a Brunei Darussalam work visa and travel tickets in October 2023. The harsh economy was biting hard on the father of two and he had hoped for a better job in another country.
A friend linked Igwe to Eche in June after sharing his interest in seeking employment outside Nigeria. Eche told him in June that he needed to pay N1,500,000 to get a work visa to Saudi Arabia and that he would have to make a deposit of N450,000 and make the final payment after the visa was ready.
Igwe told FIJ that he used the documents of his landed property as collateral to get a loan to make payments for the visa and that Eche introduced him to Peter Iseyemi, her colleague.
After making payments, Igwe waited until August for the visa, but he got nothing.
“I waited from June to August and nothing happened. All I got were excuses. Iseyemi told me that since Saudi Arabia was delayed, he could process a work visa for me to go to Brunei Darussalam. I had my reservations but he and Eche convinced me to go for it,” Igwe told FIJ on Thursday.
“He told me he would charge N1,400,000 for it. I told him to use the initial deposit to get the visa and when it comes out, I’ll pay the balance. The Brunei Darussalam visa came out exactly on 17th of September 2023 and was supposed to expire on 27th of January, 2024.”
READ ALSO: After Receiving Millions From Nigerians Seeking Visas, Peace Travels’ Adeleke Omotayo Relocates to UK
Igwe completed his balance and was rest assured because he felt he was only a step closer to his goal. Another hurdle sprung up on his path when Eche made more demands.
She told him he needed to make another payment of N400,000 for travel tickets. After making the payments, Igwe began preparing for the trip as Iseyemi promised the ticket would be issued by the end of September 2023.
“I was preparing for the trip and arranging my luggage while they promised to issue the tickets. I started waiting and asking them for the tickets but all I got were excuses and promises and I wasn’t really that bothered because the visa was already out,” said Igwe.
“On the 20th of October, 2023, I resigned from my job here in Nigeria in preparation for my travel but the tickets had not been issued. All they were saying was that the company would be the ones to send the tickets, to my greatest surprise and shock.”
Igwe waited until January when the visa expired. In February, Eche and Iseyemi promised to send him to Poland with the money he had paid. They asked him to give them until April for the visa to be issued. It has been six months since then, and Igwe has received nothing.
Left with an expired Brunei Darussalam visa, no travel tickets, no Polish visa and no job, Igwe has begun job hunting afresh.
“I did everything they told me to do and I have been very religious with all the payments they told me to make. But they have been feeding me with excuses. Iseyemi told me that the EFCC was on the trail of the person they made payments to. That is not my business,” Igwe told FIJ.
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REACTIONS
When FIJ called Iseyemi for comments on Thursday, he did not deny the allegations.
He said that he and Eche were recruitment agents who helped companies abroad source for potential employees in Nigeria and that the person in charge had assured him that Igwe and others who made payments would get their refund in November.
“We are into recruitment. The contacts we have there said they are not ready to bring them in yet. Some of them are demanding for their money. The man in charge said he has told the company that if it does not work out, he will refund them by November,” said Iseyemi.
FIJ also contacted Eche for comments. She told FIJ that she never knew the business would turn sour and had paid Igwe N300,000 out of the N1,900,000 he paid her.
READ ALSO: No Visa, No Refund for Customer 6 Months After Paying $6,800 to ‘Into Migration’ for Ireland Work Permit
“Honestly I did not know that the business would be like this. I am the middleman in all of this. I have taken it upon myself to start paying him. I paid him N300,000 last month. Please beg him to have patience with me,” Eche wrote FIJ on Saturday.
FIJ relayed this information to Igwe. He said it was the same excuses he had received since 2023.
“When I was paying the money, they didn’t tell me that they were paying to someone else. Iseyemi gave me his word that they would pay by September ending, but nothing came. He has now shifted it to November. They have been going back and forth and there is no iota of truth in whatever they are saying,” Igwe lamented.
Igwe’s experience mirrors the struggles of other Nigerians who pay millions to travel agents in their pursuit of emigration only to receive no visas or refunds in return.
FIJ has reported other stories about Nigerians who paid travel agents millions for visas so they could emigrate but were denied visas and refunds.
One such story was about Adeleke Omotayo of Peace Travels, a Nigerian who relocated from Dubai to the United Kingdom after receiving millions from Nigerians who sought visas.
The post Father of Two Jobless, Awaits Refund After Paying Agent Helen Eche N1.9m for Work Visa One Year Ago appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.