US Firm Shuts Down After Accusing Staff Of Extortion In Nigeria

Jenna Bourgeois

Jenna Bourgeois, chairman of the company, made the announcement via his LinkedIn account on Thursday and asked any company trying to do business in Nigeria to outsource to Indians.

The company which engages in technology solutions, partners with Microsoft and Amazon to create custom cloud based productivity software.

The software built upon the Microsoft Azure, PowerApps, PowerBI, Flow, and Dynamics 365 technologies are focused on healthcare, retail and government sectors. On its website, the company says it plans to train 5,000 Nigerians in ‘Microsoft technologies’.

Bourgeois said the closure of the company branch in Nigeria is as a result of the continued extortion by its employees and contractors, saying the company can no longer function in an environment of distrust.

“Effective immediately, we will be closing our operations in Nigeria. Over the last year, we have faced numerous examples of employees and contractors extorting the company,” he wrote.

“While we kept giving Nigerians a chance to gain skills and employment, we cannot run a company when we can’t trust the people who work for us.

“Any company interested in conducting business in Nigeria can reach out to us to learn how to avoid being scammed by technical resources.”