News
Blackmail, Not Forex, Major Reason for Multinationals Exiting Nigeria – Ekeh
Leo Stan Ekeh, Serial digital entrepreneur has spotlighted the chief reasons why multinationals are exiting Nigeria and warned that if nothing was done, more of such businesses and indigenous ones may close shop in the coming months and years.
Leo Stan Ekeh
In a press statement, Ekeh who is the Chairman of Zinox Technologies Limited, a Nigerian conglomerate with international affiliations, urged President Bola Tinubu to address the critical issues of corporate blackmail and bullying, which he said frustrate the Federal Government’s effort at promoting ease-of-doing-business in the country.
While acknowledging that scarcity of forex is a challenge for businesses operating in Nigeria, he said these challenge can be surmounted especially with the new push by the Tinubu government to inject more forex into the system.
He stated that the depreciation of the naira, which dropped from N422.00/$ in June 2023 to N951.94/$ in December 2023 at the official window, following the floating of the naira by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is only a convenient reason cited by the exiting multinationals.
“On face value, some of the exiting multinationals cite difficulty in procuring forex as reason for closing shop in Nigeria, but they are only being diplomatic. Many of them have had to contend with all manner of blackmail and corporate bullying from professional blackmailers aided by our slow judicial process.
“This has become an emerging but very destructive business model in our country, and unfortunately, the legal system is handicapped to protect the victims because of the long years it takes to discharge a case,” he said.
According to Ekeh, the escalation of corporate blackmail over the years is responsible for the low attraction of foreign direct investments (FDI) relative to the size of Nigeria’s market and potential.
Referencing an open letter he addressed to President Tinubu, Ekeh cited an issue of blackmail against his Company TD Africa and himself by an Ibadan-based computer firm, Citadel Oracle Concepts Limited owned by an Enugu state indigene, Mr. Benjamin Joseph, as a case study of how much frustration investors suffer for doing business in Nigeria. He said that the matter had been investigated by several constituted agencies and were found to be false.
Consequently, the IGP charged him to court for giving false information in 2016, but for over 8 years Mr. Joseph has not been able to defend a one count charge for false information instituted at the FCT High Court Abuja for a case he reported. Mr. Joseph has been skipping court sessions or feigning ill-health rather than appearing in court to defend himself and prove his claim of fraud after the prosecution closed its case. He rather appeals to successive Attorney-Generals to withdraw the case from court, knowing that his claims and allegations are not true.
Ekeh urged the President to prevail on the Attorney-General, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi SAN, and any other person/institution not to truncate the course of justice but to allow this case and similar cases to run its full course in the interest of justice, fairness and to convince the international community, including international investors, that we respect and abide by the rule of law in Nigeria.
While expressing confidence in the President to address the issue of blackmail, he suggested that Tinubu should aggressively pursue a policy that promotes patronage of indigenous manufacturers and service providers as a way of reflating the economy.
He said: “It is evident that the core of the myriad challenges afflicting the nation today is our failure to develop local capacities. We must embrace self-sufficiency by consuming what we produce and supporting indigenous players across various sectors.”
He regretted that in spite of several local content policies established by the Federal Government, such policies are consistently disregarded by government employees and appointees, wondering why “we send our children to the world’s best institutions, where they excel, yet we overlook the products they create.”
He gave the example of the government of India which recently imposed restrictions on the importation of laptops, tablets, all-in-one personal computers and ultra-small computers and servers with immediate effect. This, according to him, was to boost local productivity both by multinationals operating in India and indigenous Indian companies to create more jobs, encourage proficiency, and discourage capital flight.
“Mr. President, I humbly appeal to you to be deliberate and decisive in encouraging indigenous producers and service providers across all sectors. This way, we create a market for indigenous products, build confidence in our economy and easily attract international investors. The way we treat our local investors will determine how many foreign investors we can attract,” he stressed.
Ekeh also urged the President to activate the suspended national census because “Nigeria has already made substantial investment in the programme with the acquisition of critical technologies and training of personnel”, explaining that allowing those systems to lie fallow would lead to huge waste.
He said Nigeria needs a credible national headcount now more than at any time given the flaws and logistics challenges that attended the distribution of palliatives across the nation, adding “a credible database is key for decision-making for planners, policy makers and investors.”
While stressing the need to bring the suspended census to a closure, he advised the government to release the over 500,000 units of Tablet PCs used during the census to different educational institutions nationwide after the headcount to enable the students acquire relevant digital skills that will make them globally competitive.
Dr. Obiageli Amadiobi, director general, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), has expressed displeasure over the level of Intellectual Property Right (IPR) losses by Nigerian researchers due to insufficient knowledge of the benefits of IPR protection.
Speaking at a one-day Coordinator’s Forum organized by the Office in Uyo for the South-South geopolitical zone of the country, the Director General, represented by Mrs. Caroline Anie-Osuagwu, director of Technology Acquisition and Research Coordination (TARC) department, said that prior to the establishment of the Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Offices (IPTTOs) in Nigerian knowledge establishments, Nigerian researchers had no deep knowledge of the importance of IP protection, hence losing their IP rights.
In a statement signed by Raymond Onyenezi Ogbu for the head, Public Relations and Protocol Unit of NOTAP, the DG advised researchers to always file for a patent each time they anticipate a breakthrough and avoid publishing before patenting, as any research work published in a paper is already in the public domain and can no longer be patented.
“IP rights are rights granted to a researcher or inventor by the government to have a monopoly over the financial exploitation of their inventions for a period of time to recoup the expenditure on their research undertaking”. the DG said.
She challenged patent owners to license or commercialize their inventions, adding that patents that cannot metamorphose into tangible products and services are not worth keeping, as they are liabilities to the owners.
The DG said that researchers with patented inventions can license their invention for royalty purposes or sell them outrightly to venture capitalists if they cannot commercialize.
“Over the years, the nation has depended on the consumption of products from foreign research, while Nigeria is blessed with skilled human resources but only needs to be strategic in their research understanding”.
“The aim of organizing the IPTTO coordinator’s forum was to interact with the coordinators, know their challenges and achievements, and encourage the centers that are not very progressive to strengthen their centers.” She added.
The DG stressed that while a number of centers are performing well, some are struggling to find their fit, occasioned by bureaucratic bottlenecks.
She expressed confidence in the ability of the research communities engaging in demand-driven and market-driven research to fast-track development adding that technology development is a product of research work, and knowledge institutions are duty-bound to engage in critical research to advance the IPR ecosystem in Nigeria.
Participants from the South-South Zone took turns to commend NOTAP for the impactful program and requested the Office to assist them with links to venture capitalists for the commercialization of their research results.
All the IPTTO coordinators presented their scorecards and were advised to get ready for the 2026 IPTTO ranking that would be organized by the Office.
A Nigerian tech enthusiast known online as the “tech queen,” Sapphire Egemasi, has been arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in connection with a massive fraud scheme targeting U.S. government agencies.
Egemasi, a programmer with an active Devpost profile, was apprehended around April 10, 2025, in the Bronx, New York, reports The Nation.
She was arrested alongside several alleged co-conspirators, including Ghanaian national Samuel Kwadwo Osei, believed to be the ringleader of the syndicate.
The arrests follow a federal grand jury indictment filed in 2024, which charged the group with multiple counts of internet fraud and money laundering. The crimes allegedly took place between September 2021 and February 2023.
According to prosecutors, the syndicate defrauded the city of Kentucky of millions of dollars by creating spoof websites that mimicked official U.S. government portals. These fraudulent platforms were used to harvest login credentials and redirect funds into accounts under the group’s control.
Investigators say Egemasi served as the technical lead of the operation. She allegedly designed the fake websites and managed the coordination of wire transfers.
Records show that in August 2022 alone, the group rerouted $965,000 into a PNC Bank account and funneled another $330,000 into a Bank of America account.
Before her arrest, Egemasi was reportedly based in Cambridge, United Kingdom, though authorities believe she previously lived in Ghana, where she may have forged ties with other members of the syndicate.
To mask the origin of her wealth, Egemasi claimed on social media and professional platforms to have held internships with multinational corporations such as British Petroleum, H&M, and Zara.
Her LinkedIn profile portrayed a polished image of a successful tech professional, while her social media accounts featured images of lavish vacations to destinations like Greece and Portugal —trips prosecutors allege were funded by illicit gains.
Egemasi and her co-defendants are currently in federal custody, awaiting trial in Lexington, Kentucky. If convicted, each faces up to 20 years in prison, hefty financial penalties, and likely deportation upon completing their sentences.
A former Executive Director at Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Abbas Muhammed Jega, has shed light on the financial dealings between Arik Air and Union Bank, revealing that the airline’s debt to AMCON was over N100 billion as of 2015 and remained unpaid.
Testifying as the third prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of Ahmed Kuru, former AMCON MD/CEO, and four others, Jega disclosed that AMCON acquired Arik’s loans from Union Bank and Keystone Bank, but not Zenith Bank, which was purchased after his exit.
According to Jega, AMCON discovered in a London meeting that Union Bank had sold them a guarantee rather than a loan, which was meant to cover foreign lenders in case Arik defaulted.
“We invited Arik to resolve the issue with Union Bank, but the arrangement disclosed by me never existed,” Jega said.
Jega attributed Arik’s inability to repay to over-trading, which led to their inability to service existing debts. He revealed that AMCON attempted to restructure Arik’s debt and even offered additional loan facilities to help the airline with working capital problems.
However, Arik failed to meet repayment obligations, prompting AMCON to propose two solutions: a debt equity swap and management control. Both options were rejected or delayed by Arik.
Under cross-examination, Jega confirmed that Kamilu Omokide and Captain Roy Ilegbodu played no role in the loan purchase or London meeting.
The matter has been adjourned to June 30, July 1, and July 2, 2025, for further cross-examination.
The case involves alleged financial misappropriation amounting to N76 billion and $31.5 million, with Ahmed Kuru, Kamilu Omokide, Captain Roy Ilegbodu, Union Bank Ltd, and Super Bravo Ltd as defendants, presided over by Justice Mojisola Dada.
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