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Racism Allegations, Staff Exodus Hit StarTimes Nigeria

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StarTimes, a popular Chinese pay TV company in Nigeria, has come under weighty allegations of systemic racism and anti-labour practices by its Nigerian employees and ex-staff.

Nigeria CommunicationsWeek investigations confirmed that five Nigerian senior management staff and numerous junior executives have recently resigned from the company also known as NTA-Star TV Network following widespread discontent between the Chinese handlers who occupy the topmost seats and many Nigerian senior staff.

The ex-staff accused the top echelon, mainly of Chinese nationals, of deep-seated racial discrimination, management highhandedness and widespread discontent.

But, Mr. Henry Eyo, director of Human Resources at the Company in an email Nigeria CommunicationsWeek described the allegations as “very untrue and quite unfortunate”.

However, investigations confirmed that five Nigerian management staff have recently left the company in 2017 with Mr. John Esoimeme, its erstwhile National Sales Director being the latest causality in July 2017.

Recently, apart from Esoimeme, Dare Kafar, its former Nigerian Marketing Director resigned in March over the unsatisfied and awkward leadership style of the management while its Head of Public Relations, Israel Bolaji left in June 2017.

It was also gathered that both Habeeb Somoye, marketing manager and Ayokunle Idowu, content marketing manager had left earlier in very unclear circumstances amongst countless others.

An insider revealed that: “Most of the Nigerian senior staff who left have had face-offs with the most senior Chinese staff, Mr. Justin Zhang, who typifies raw racism and Chinese mafia at StarTimes. He is the mastermind of the reign of terror in the Chinese company.”

It was alleged that “Any Nigerian who confronts Zhang Justin was always sacked. There was a particular sales manager, Olumide Olawuyi-Oke, a very brilliant sales manager who was sacked on the spot for always disagreeing and raising counter opinions with Justin in meetings. Olumide was summoned to Justin’s office on September 18, 2016 after a minor argument with Justin Zhang during a management meeting and that was his last day at StarTimes.”

A middle aged female employee in the Dealer Sales Department who craved anonymity lamented thus: “Since I joined StarTimes in 2002 as a graduate, racism has remained an endemic problem here. Only a few Nigerians who can spy on others are promoted. Please check the records, 80 per cent of Nigerians have received no significant promotions or pay raise for the last 5 years in the company’s 7 years operations in Nigeria.

“It is an issue we have been battling for years and even the Nigeria Labour Congress has once picketed StarTimes Lagos office over anti-labour practices. Nigerians are really treated poorly here compared to their Chinese counterparts. There are terribly sharp differences in salaries, working conditions, and benefits such as insurance policy and promotion; arbitrary demotion of Nigerians is also a common practice and no corporate governance.

“But most importantly, the Chinese are like mafias here. No Nigerian employee dare argue or make comments when they talk. They are like the typical Chinese imperialists in traditional Chinese movies. You can tell from the air of arrogance they carry around here. They see and treat Nigerians like second fiddle no matter the office.  Strangely, the Chinese bosses have lesser qualifications and experience compared to Nigerians, but as soon as they spend a few months they are appointed director over many senior Nigerians.

“It is pathetic but because of the economic hardship, people cannot help the situation. Those of us who are junior are suffering in silence but they have been having running battles with the senior Nigerian employees most of whom were employed few years ago. That explains why many senior enlightened bright minds are leaving in anger. In fact, the Chinese often boast about Nigeria’s worsening unemployment rate which they consider an advantage. Justin Zhang usually says there is always another local guy who will do your job for a lesser pay so I can fire you, ” an insider source said. 

According to the Source, Esoimeme left in anger after he was recently demoted from his post of national sales director to regional director and transferred to Kaduna to pave way for two new Chinese employees both of whom joined the company less than a year ago – Mr. Thunder Lei and Mr. Boby Wang. Both were appointed national sales directors following Esoimeme’s unceremonious ouster. Both Lei and Wang were junior employees who earlier reported to Esoimeme before the Chinese pulled the plug on him.

It was alleged that the move was again spearhead by Justin Zhang, the former Vice President of marketing and general manager of Lagos who was just promoted to be CEO.

“Mr. Justin is known to all in StarTimes as a die-hard sadist and racist who has held sway for years. As against the practice of two-year tenure as GM, he was in fact rewarded for his highhandedness on Nigerians by the Chinese headquarters with his promotion to the post of CEO recently. The former CEO, Jack Liu was said to be too soft”, said a former staff.

A former employee of StarTimes, Charles Imomo expressed dismay over what he described as the “growing catalogue of atrocities of Chinese companies in Nigeria.”

He said, “StarTimes like many other Chinese businesses in Nigeria is full of fraud and Nazi behaviours. It is just like a Nazi detention camp where Nigerians lament in silence. I have been here since they started. No promotion and no single increment for 5 years, yet different Chinese bosses come and rise so fast within months to become directors. For instance, to our greatest surprise many of the Chinese bosses are either fresh graduates or those with much lower experience compared to their Nigerian subordinates.”   

“Racism is so rife and pathetic that Nigerian senior managers merely carry big portfolios without requisite powers as only Chinese staff call the shots. For instance, every February, the Chinese bosses usually travel to China for their New Year festivity. Before the Chinese bosses travel, they would announce a junior Chinese staffer who takes charge of the company in spite of having Nigerian directors.

“No structure, no hierarchy, only Chinese and Nigerians. That’s all. For example during such trip in December 2015, Mr. Berlin, the logistics manager in Lagos was announced as the acting GM of Lagos office by then vice president marketing, Justin Zhang, in the presence of two Nigerian directors – Dare Kafar and John Esoimeme who watched in utter disbelief. There is a pervasive air of superiority and crude arrogance that the Chinese carry around the company. They order Nigerian staff around and threaten to sack at the slightest provocation.

“We once had a Chinese boss in Lagos office called Mr Stone who was so notorious with a violent temperament, so much that he was fond of slapping Nigerian staff at will. When his excesses became unbearable, the NTA, our partner company, having received so much complains from the Nigerian staff came to the rescue. NTA insisted Mr Stone be banished to China. He was smuggled out of Nigeria overnight. It was that bad.

“The Chinese are fond of cutting corners and engaged in sharp practices. Many of them have neither the required immigration papers for residence nor the professional licenses or locally required certificates to perform their local roles in Nigeria. For example, Mr. Justin Zhang, the new CEO was the Vice president Marketing for over three years without any APCON certification, license or membership (Find attached letter to him from APCON) When queried by APCON, he denied and continued his role with impunity. Such is the behaviour of the average Chinese.

“The practice at StarTimes is that while Chinese staffers are treated like royalty most senior Nigerian staff are contract staff, even directors. The trick is to offer employment to Nigerians with a clause that the contract is renewable per annum. This makes it easy to ease out stubborn Nigerians. They simply refuse to renew your contract when you argue with any Chinese. Nigerians no matter how highly placed are fired at will or frustrated to resign. Government should deploy undercover intelligence to unravel the underhand deals in StarTimes. On the average, no fewer than 10 Nigerians resign from StarTimes monthly.

There’s definitely an impending implosion if nothing is done. NTA is aware and has tried hard to wade into this matter but with no results. That Nigerians are enslaved on their own land is absurd,” said another ex-staff.

StarTimes Responds to Allegations
When contacted, Mr. Eyo told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek that the allegation of racism in organization was very untrue, quite unfortunate, “and it is disturbing that anyone would make such an allegation. Like every other multinational organization with employees from different nationalities (i.e. Nigeria and China) , it is impossible for you not to have misunderstandings, and occasional healthy arguments.

“There is no multinational in the world, where cultures haven’t clashed or individuals from different nationalities have not had misunderstandings, either as a result of communication challenges of lack of it; but we constantly ensure such issues are addressed promptly and none of such have been as a result of racism.

Commenting on five Nigerian management staff that recently left-over power struggle, face-offs with the most senior Chinese staff, Mr. Justin Zhang, he said, “As the HR Director, I am quite surprised at the news that five senior management staff had recently resigned. As far as I know, Dare Kafar resigned because he got another job, and was immediately replaced by the next in line in the department who is also a Nigerian.

“Olumide Oke-Olawuyi had a record of poor performance for over a year, in spite of this management still gave him all the resources and support required. Even when he was not measuring up to the expectations and targets set by management he was given over a year to turn around his performance.

“Olumide voluntarily resigned after a series of warning letters.

“As for John Esoimeme, he also voluntarily resigned. The three (3) individuals I have mentioned above are those we consider as senior management staff.

“Justin Zhang the new CEO is an individual with very keen interest in excellent performance, and many of the hard-working staff have been promoted and rewarded financially in recent times under his administration, irrespective of their nationality.

“Our current acting Marketing and Branding Director, a Nigerian is one of the beneficiaries of Justin Zhang’ s reward for performance policy. We also had two new Zonal Director positions created and the positions are currently filled by Nigerian’s who had shown a track record of excellent performance. Also, we just recently promoted one of our hard-working Nigerian female staff to the position of Assistant Director in charge of our Business Halls and all these have happened within the few months of Justin Zhang taking over the helm of affair of StarTimes Nigeria.

“It is quite unfortunate that anyone will dub StarTimes or Justin Zhang as being racist. As a country, it is important for us to continually imbibe the culture of excellent performance to ensure we achieve major feats; and that is a culture we are not ashamed to promote in StarTimes Nigeria.

“Finally let’s not forget that StarTimes Nigeria also officially known as NTA-Star TV Network Limited is a joint venture between NTA and Star Group of China, and the Chairman of the board is the DG of NTA. NTA will never close its eyes and allow any form of racism or malpractices”.

He however admitted that Mr. Justin Zhang introduced new policies that could have let loose the fury in some of the staff.

“We do have policies in place to ensure that our staff members respect each other and are well protected. These policies cut across all staff without

“Under the leadership of Justin Zhang, we have extended Life Insurance cover for our contract staff, we have created over 30 managerial positions at State levels as a reward for our excellent performing sales people. We have extended health cover for our contract staff members. We also recently introduced an education and professional development policy for all our staff, to help them further their education and become better at what they do.

“As an organization, we provide direct employment for over 1,310 Nigerians, and we have over 3,000 individuals employed nationwide by our dealers and various vendors and partners who rely on us for business.

“We do not and have not in anyway gone against any labour regulations. As a matter of fact, a Nigerian HR Director (in my person) was employed for close to 3 years now, and this was due to management’s interest in ensuring that someone knowledgeable about the Nigeria Labor practices should handle the affairs of the HR department”.

Speaking on the alleged flouting of APCON regulatory orders especially by Zhang, the Director of HR said, “As for the APCON issues I am not aware of this. But Justin Zhang respects the rules and laws governing business practices in Nigeria.

“On a final note , we trust that you would provide a well-balanced information considering your track record as a respected news reporter”.

 

 


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Netflix Expands Language Options on TV to Capture Global Viewers

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Netflix has expanded its language options for television viewers, allowing users to select from the full list of available subtitles and dubbing languages for any title.

Netflix Expands Language Options on TV to Capture Global Viewers

This update aims to make Netflix’s global catalogue more accessible, especially as nearly a third of its viewership comes from non-English language shows. ​

Previously, TV users could only choose from a limited selection of languages based on their location and settings.

Now, they can access the complete range of available languages for any title, similar to the flexibility already offered on mobile devices and web browsers.

For instance, a user can watch an English title like “Bridgerton” with Spanish dubbing and Korean subtitles, or opt for Japanese dubbing with Portuguese subtitles. ​

Netflix offers subtitles in 33 languages and audio dubbing in 36 languages across its catalogue, though the exact number of available languages may vary by title. This change responds to numerous user requests for more language options on TV platforms. ​

This move reflects Netflix’s commitment to enhancing accessibility and catering to its diverse global audience by providing more inclusive viewing experiences.​


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AMCON Gets Boost as Arik Air Records 2.2M Passengers, 10,699 Flights in 2024 – NCAA Report

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Arik Air in 2024, airlifted 2,239,176 passengers between January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024, a report sourced from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has confirmed.

The airline, which has been under the receivership of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) since 2017, despite its challenges, also operated 10,699 flights within the year under review, making it the second most active airline in terms of passenger traffic and flight operations in Nigeria, after Air Peace.

According to the report, the total number of air travellers in the domestic scene in 2024 was 11, 549,443 with inbound at 5,727,700 and outbound passengers at 5,821,743. This figure shows that Arik Air captured 19.3 per cent of the total passenger traffic for 2024, while it had 15.1 per cent of the total 70,543 flights operated by the 15 domestic airlines in the year under review.

The Executive Summary on International and Domestic Flight Operations 2024, as captured by the NCAA, indicated that Arik Air had 1,112,358 and 1,126,818 as inbound and outbound passengers for 2024, respectively, making it a total of 2,239,176 passengers ferried in 2024.

Monthly breakdown of the passenger traffic indicated that Arik Air had 37,772 inbound passengers and another 38,987 as outbound passengers in January 2024, totalling 76,759 passengers. For February the airline recorded 38,217 as inbound and 39,209 as outbound, totalling 77,426; March, 37,183 as inbound and 37,642 as outbound, making it a total of 74,825; April, 31,326 as inbound and 31,971 as outbound, making 63,297.

The airline in May 2024, also recorded 39,006 as inbound and 39,765 as outbound passengers, totalling 78,771 for the month, while the month of June had 37,710 as inbound and 38,617 as outbound, totalling 76,327; July, 156,146 as inbound and 159,044 as outbound, totalling 315,190; August, the airline recorded 153,080 as inbound and 144,259 as outbound, making it a total figure of 297,339 within the period.

For the month of September, Arik Air recorded 143,396 as inbound and 145,096 as outbound, making it a total figure of 288,492; October 129,506 as inbound and 133,330 as outbound, totalling 262,836; November, 252,448 as inbound and 255,578 as outbound, making it a total of 508,026, while December had 56,568 as inbound and 63,322 as outbound, making it a total of 119,890 passengers ferried within the period.

Also, a month-by-month breakdown of flights operated by Arik Air in 2024 showed that the airline had a total number of 380 flights in January, 2024; 419 flights in February and 468 flights in March 2024.

Further breakdown showed that for the month of April, the airline operated a total number of 340 flights; May, 374; June, 350, while it peaked in July, going as high as 1,403 flights in just one month.

Besides, in August, the airline operated 1,320 flights; in September, 1,352; in October, 1,266; in November, 2,442, while it operated a total of 585 flights in December 2024. The airline within the period also had a total number of complaints among the air travellers, with just 190, with the majority being resolved by the airline.

The further breakdown of complaints indicated that for the month of January, there were no single complaints from any of its air passengers ferried within the period, had just two complaints in February, while March recorded only one complaint.

April had four complaints; May, two; June, one; July, three; August received seven complaints; September, 28; October, 50; November, 67, while December 2024 recorded only 25 complaints from the flying public. Besides, Arik Air did not record a single baggage miss in 2024, with all 84 delayed baggage items, as indicated by the NCAA statistics, were handed over to their owners.

Furthermore, unlike other domestic airline operators, Arik Air had only one overbooking/denied flight in its entire 10,699 flights in 2024. This was in October 2024.

Olumide Ohunayo, General Secretary Aviation Safety Round Table Initiativs said: “Arik Air’s performance in 2024 stands out as exceptional, despite the airline being under AMCON receivership. The data released by the regulatory authority ranked Arik as second in domestic passenger traffic, moving 2,239,176 passengers—a testament to its resilience and strategic management under challenging conditions.

“With a 13.4% market share out of the 11.5 million total domestic passengers, Arik Air’s sustained dominance highlights its strong operational efficiency. This result demonstrates Arik’s operational stability under Receivership despite financial constraints, distractive litigations, fleet limitations, and regulatory challenges, the airline continued to deliver reliable air travel services, showing effective route management and passenger demand optimization.

“It should be noted that Arik Air suffered severe disruptions due to a high court order grounding some of its aircraft last year when mediation was a better option to the instantaneous grounding by the executive.”

In his comment Roland Iyayi MD of Top Brass Aviation Limited said: “Arik Air transporting 2.2 million passengers and securing the second position in Nigeria’s domestic market, ahead of competitors like Ibom Air (1.3 million), Max Air (915,918), and Aero Contractors (964,900) is a huge and massive achievement, considering the disruptions the airline had suffered under receivership.

“Arik Air’s performance is remarkable given its limited access to fresh capital, aging fleet, and regulatory hurdles tied to its receivership status.

“The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) strategic support deserves recognition for its crucial role in stabilizing Arik Air, ensuring its continued operations, and maintaining confidence among passengers. Without AMCON’s intervention, the airline would not have remained a key player in Nigeria’s aviation industry. Arik Air’s ability to thrive under receivership reaffirms AMCON’s commitment to preserving jobs, sustaining economic contributions, and ensuring safe, reliable airline services for Nigerian travelers.”


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Lagos Dominates NIN List as Nigeria Hits 117 Million Registrations

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National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has announced a milestone achievement, with over 117 million Nigerians now enrolled for the National Identity Number (NIN) as of February 28, 2025.

Lagos State emerged as the top contributor to this figure, boasting over 12.6 million registrations, followed by Kano State with 10.2 million.

According to NIMC’s latest data, male registrants outnumber female registrants, making up 56.5% of the total enrollment at 66,281,803, while female registrants account for 43.5% at 51,079,521.

The report highlighted regional enrollment trends, showing an almost equal distribution across Nigeria’s northern and southern regions.

However, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, and Ekiti States recorded the lowest enrollment figures, with Bayelsa reporting a mere 758,111 registrations.

Lagos State dominated the charts with 6,870,915 males and 5,741,419 females registered, while Kano trailed closely, boasting 5,924,126 males and 4,321,929 females in its 10.2 million total registrations.

Other notable states in the top 10 include Kaduna, Ogun, Oyo, Katsina, and Rivers. NIMC expressed optimism about further improving enrollment figures in underrepresented regions in the coming months.


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