The Chairman, CareerEdu. Dr. Kelvin Alaneme, has accused the BBC of running a defamatory and misleading publication against him after their documentary exposed a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) scam he allegedly ran in the UK.

One of the victims of the same, a Nigerian man in his mid-30s known as Praise, claimed he paid Dr Alaneme over £10,000 ($13,000) for a job in the UK.

“I was told I was going to be working with a care company called Efficiency for Care, based in Clacton-on-Sea,” he recounted.

However, upon arrival, he discovered the job did not exist.

“If I had known there was no job, I would not have come here,” he said. “At least, back home in Nigeria, if you go broke, I can find my sister or my parents and go and eat free food. It’s not the same here. You will go hungry.”

Reacting, Dr. Alaneme issued a statement denying the allegations contained in the documentary.

He said, "I am making this statement for all who have known me here and believe in the vision we have always shared. I have never scammed or defrauded anyone in my life. And I never will.

"Since we began in 2020, CareerEdu has helped over 5000 Nigerians relocate, not just to the UK but to other countries. We have services in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Oman, United States.

"We are not Care Job employers in the UK. We have always made this clear. Our job is to LINK qualified employees to LEGITIMATE and LICENSED employers and recruiters who do provide Certificate of Sponsorship.

"We have always made it clear that Certificate of Sponsorship is FREE. That said, some recruiters and employers charge some extra costs. These costs can cover training, transportation and even accommodation and varies from employer to employer. We do communicate this clearly to the clients and in the event that these clients are not successful, they do get a FULL refund of these extra costs, no questions asked.

"Our job as a linking company ends when the employee successfully comes into the UK and is handed over to the employer to commence training, DBS and other pre-employment routines.

"Every COS issued by employers to our clients were legitimate and they all relocated successfully.

"Over 98% of persons we have placed into employment are settled and working with their employers in the UK. We prepare these employees and ensure that the Healthcare workers that eventually come to the UK are ‘the best of the best’.

"There have been on very few occasions where the employers overstated their needs or recruited more persons that they had shifts for. On these few occasions, we do our best to find alternative employers in the UK for these clients at no extra costs. We also blacklist such employers and never send them candidates again.

"Last year, I was contacted by someone from Borderless who said she had access to employers. We were trying to become a direct recruitment agency so we can slash the ‘extra costs’ charged by recruiters and employers. The said company said they will take £2k which should cover for training, transportation costs. It sounded too good to be true compared to what was obtainable which explained why I was enthusiastic about it. I proposed that the agent will be compensated on a commission basis per person placed - a referral bonus - which is legal. Anyone who knows how commission payment works knows that there is no ceiling to how much the referrer can make. This was all there is to it, soundbites aside.

"The plan was simple, design a super-affordable package that will cover training, accommodation and make settling and assimilation easier for immigrant healthcare workers.

"When she came back that the client does not have shifts yet, I informed her that it will be difficult. A lot of our conversations surrounding this was cut to suit their agenda. It is our policy to be fully transparent to our clients and I told her we will inform any clients that these do not have hours yet. That said, they will still have 20 hours that they can do Care Jobs anywhere in the UK.

"Again, every single thing I have done both personally and through my company CareerEdu has been driven by the vision to provide global opportunities for young Nigerians starved by their countries of those opportunities.

"Since last year, we have slowed down on relocation because of the general anti-immigration climate globally. The exchange rate has not helped - average Nigerians can no longer even afford tuition abroad.

"When the BBC asked for my right of reply, I detailed every single thing that transpired, with evidence. My lawyers have been in touch and will advise on how we address this highly defamatory and misleading publication. For Praise, we presented evidence that every single dime he paid to us was transferred to the recruiter. He knows this, yet he is bent on tarnishing our hard-earned reputation. We will address this legally.

"If the BBC really wanted to do a ‘real story’ - there are many individuals exploiting people, issuing fake COS, and outrightly scamming people and disappearing with their monies.

"We have done none of this yet they maliciously insist on putting out this one-sided falsehood.

"I believe that the truth will win and posterity will vindicate the just."

ASA