"We only train applicants" - An Interview with Open Clouds Communication Ltd Manager

I made a post earlier - Inside Lagos’ multimillion naira job scam office .

Saturday PUNCH spoke with the manager of this company, who identified himself as Sam Johnson on the different allegations against them. Read below:

We have noticed that you use different names. What is the actual name of your company?

It is Open Clouds Communication Limited.

Which company then is Accugenix?

That is probably an advertiser.

And Bidax? Rexa Corp? Inexia?

Okay. Let me explain. If one advertises with Punch for instance, does that make my company name and yours the same? There are different channels of communication but we are Open Clouds Communication Limited.

If you are advertising in Punch, it is the name of your company that you put in the advertisement not the agency handling it. So how do you want us to believe these are not your company names? Are you aware that there is a Facebook page and website for Bidax (Bidax.com) for instance, calling on people to apply for jobs at your office address?

Have you been to the Bidax website that you mentioned?

Yes. And I have seen text messages from Accugenix, Bidax, Rexa Corp and Inexia inviting people for job interviews at 634, Adeyemo Alakija, VI. Is that not the address of your company?

Yes, it is our address. But I am not sure we are advertising in the website you mentioned.

None of the texts candidates got have any other names like Open Clouds Communications. Are you saying you have no connection whatsoever with Bidax and the other names I mentioned?

Like I was explaining earlier, we run adverts with some outfits and SMS companies. We are a training organisation or institute. When we train, we give job opportunities to those we train when such opportunities come. But we are strictly a training organisation. We would never invite people to come for an interview and when they come, we convert them to job seekers or trainees.

When we advertise with your company. You can choose to come up with the contents for us and if it is misleading, we would not advertise with you again because such advertisement misleads the public.

You mean that Accengix and the other names asked people to come for job interview in your office and you have no relationship with these names?

I said it could be an advertising medium.

People don’t just wake up and decide to send out text messages about job vacancies at your office. We believe these are other names for your company.

No, no, no. Did you see any of the SMS or emails asking people to come for the interview?

I saw all the text messages sent out with these names. All these names feature in text messages sent out to people who came for interview on January 10, January 15, January 19, the interview held in February and the last one – March 10.

I think they may be advertising firms.

Okay, is any of your officials called Gbemi?

Yes, she was the one you called yesterday, who notified me.

Are you aware that I got Gbemi’s number through one of the text messages sent out with Bidax as the company’s name?

I don’t know anything about that.

Does she know her name is associated with Bidax?

Let us make some corrections here. We don’t have any business relations with any of these names you mentioned. These may be SMS services from an advertiser. We could not have registered all of these names you mentioned with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

Is Open Clouds Communication Limited registered then?

Yes, it is registered.

What is your RC number so we could just do a cross-check?

You don’t expect me to put it in my head and carry that all around.

Then you can give me when I call you back later?

Is it possible for me to invite you to our company so that we can just have a one-on-one?

No, that won’t be possible at this point.

What I mean is that I could just give you the number you asked for when next we meet.

This report is coming out on Saturday. The RC number should not be difficult to check. You probably have a letter head there and it is probably on it. That should not be difficult to give us.

Can I decline giving you that information?

Of course, you have the right to refuse to answer any question.

This company was registered last December and we started operation in our current location in January 2016.

Can you also tell us how many people turned up for your interview on March 10 and how many people you are currently training?

I don’t have those numbers now. I will have to check back with you on that.

We were told the use of a VI office is part of your ploy to attract job seekers. Many of the people who responded to your job interview invitation believed it was real simply because of the location of your office. How did you even get the phone numbers of the people that were sent text messages since they said they never applied for jobs with your company?

We don’t send text messages to anybody as a company. We have advertising channels. They have their own audience. We reach out to the agencies for our training purpose, not job interviews.

Do you know the contents of the ‘advertisements’ that these SMS services as you call them, are putting out in the name of your company?

That is what I said before. When we discover the ones that are misleading, we stop doing business with them.

So, you don’t see the contents of what they put out there on your behalf?

Of course, we do at times. But it is a huge society. Some organisations willingly reach out to their audience and tell us that when this audience come, sell your idea to them. But we say no. We tell them that because you have these contacts on your database does not mean you should send text messages to them and tell them it is a job interview.

What process do you take when job seekers come to your company?

You go through a process. It is like going to a university. Because you can speak English does not mean any university can admit you.

What did you do on March 10 for instance, when people turned up in large numbers and told you they got text messages of job interviews?

They were verified. For instance, the computer-based test is one of the processes. If they are not fit for the training, we let the people go.

Do you for instance, check the text messages people claimed they got inviting them for a job interview at your company?

Sometimes, yes. Not all the time. Some people already know they are coming for a training.

So, you don’t check if they are lying or whether they got the invite truly?

No. Immediately they come, we tell them they are coming for a training interview, not a job interview.

None of the people we spoke with had any inkling that they were there solely for a training. I was personally at your company and the text message that I claimed that I got was checked twice; first by the security at the door and then by the lady at the reception.

Okay. I am listening.

The name on the text message I showed your official was Accugenix. If you claim to know nothing about Accugenix, Rexa Corp, Inexia and Bidax, which are the names on the text messages job seekers brought and showed your officials before being allowed in, why did your company not turn them back and say they got the wrong information? Your officials see these names every day.

We always made it clear to candidates that it was a training programme.

You have a GTB account in the name of Stanley & Cooper. Which company is that?

Yes, it is our subsidiary company. Stanley and Cooper is not our training outfit. We do many things separate from the training aspect. I am not denying that we are connected to Stanley and Cooper.

One of your officials told a job seeker that there were just three vacancies available at a point and that it was on a basis of first-come-first-served. Why did you still insist they must all pay N45,000 for the ‘training’?

The official probably said that as a sales strategy or maybe truly those were actually vacancies that particular day alone. Some of the candidates come only for the training. We have companies which we talk to about jobs because we know that people we train can benefit. We offer the jobs when the opportunities come.

One of the job seekers said he sought refund of the N11,000 he paid to you when he realised that he had to pay up to N73,000. When he said he doubted your company’s integrity, you threw him out of the company.

I remember his case. Like I said, we are a training organisation. But when opportunities come, we give to people we have trained. He was upset because he saw other expenses on a list we gave him, which were optional.

Then, why did you not give him a refund?

I gave him materials and he attended our class for one day. What refund should we give him? He demanded a refund after the first day of the training. Fees are not refundable.

Did you actually ask job applicants to pay for ‘CV review’?

Yes, CV review costs about N7,500.