A week since the arrest of a high profile young entrepreneur, Obinwanne Okeke, days after online sales platform Jumia announced internal breaches by staff in Nigeria and then the massive FBIbust of Nigeria-dominated online fraudsters.
Nigeria’s social media space continues to buzz with implications – direct and indirect; short to medium to long term – of the incidents of the last one week.
In summarizing the week for Nigeria, a Cameroonian tech entrepreneur, Rebecca Enonchong posted on Twitter: “Nigeria, you have a serious problem on your hands. In less than one week: – Fraudster ‘Forbes CEO’ arrested, – Jumia fraud blamed on Nigerians, – 80 person indictment for fraud in L.A.”
In the case of Jumia: a Quartz Africa report said: “The company has disclosed it recently uncovered instances of improper orders placed and subsequently cancelled on its marketplace platform wrongly inflating its order volume.
“Some of the improper sales practices, the company said, were carried out by its own personnel in “Jumia Force,” its network of commissioned agents.”
For many Nigerians on Twitter, from a video clip of president Buhari earlier this year talking about hardwork and integrity, the publication of names of the implicated Nigerians, bemoaning of the further depletion of the Nigerian name.
Even to a call to strip the crimes of ethnic coloration given that #IgboYahooBoys hashtag had trended at a point, a veiled spite of the Igbo ethnic group in South East Nigeria whose indigenes dominated the list.
Others also wanted the national graft body, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC; to make known its role in the FBI operation whiles for many others, it was all about preaching hardwork and contentment.
“I hope the FBI is already in touch with the EFCC to fish these fraudsters out. We need a database of fraudsters, with their photos and crimes published for public consumption,” one Twitter user Gimba Kakanda posted on Friday.
Source: africanews
