Published 7th Nov, 2023

By Tola Owoyele

Wande Johnson (not real name), a Lagos State resident, has narrated how Immigration and Nationality Services (IANS) Ltd., a company that assists skilled workers in migrating to the United Kingdom and securing job opportunities, withheld the £1,800 that was meant to aid her travel plans.

Johnson told FIJ that she made the payment to the company between April 2022 and September 2022.

“In 2021, I had this interest to relocate abroad. This then led to me choosing to use the services of IANS to realise that particular ambition,” said Johnson.

“Then, I was told I would have to pay £1,800 to get things started. In making the payment, I was given a six-month deadline. Fortunately, I made the deadline by making payments in three tranches. After this, the company enrolled us in an IELTS class, and when I sat for the exam, my score was quite reasonable.

“While this was ongoing, the company also created a platform for us that looked like an application. It was called the Connectician. Through the application, one could reach out to the company’s officials. One could also interact with one’s colleagues via the platform.”

Johnson told FIJ that IANS later place registered applicants in cohorts.

“With time, we, the registered applicants, kept on noticing that the cohorts were increasing but previously enrolled candidates were not even granted any opportunity,” Johnson told FIJ.

“We were also supposed to be afforded an interview opportunity by the company but we never got any. If the company had honoured its agreement and facilitated me with the opportunities it promised, I possibly would have secured a job as a care-giver in the country I intended travelling to by now.

“To cut the long story short, when people started demanding answers, IANS suddenly disconnected us from the Connectitian application. They also stopped reaching out to us.

“When I eventually was able to reach out to one of the company’s representatives, he gave an excuse that they had been sending mails to us. I, however, was able to register my displeasure when we interacted.

“I told him that it was unfair that I was not given any opportunity to attend any interview or any kind of opportunity that would allow me realise my plans of travelling abroad and chasing my goals. No response from them.

“IANS also never talked about how it will refund my £1,800, since it appears it will no longer be of any help. We have been on this ever since. There was a time I sent the company a mail and one of its officials responded, telling me to join another cohort in Dubai.

“The official said joining the Dubai cohort could further brighten my chances of travelling to the UK. I had to tell him that I did not have the financial strength to leave Nigeria and join the Dubai cohort. After this, I asked the company to refund my money. In response, the company said it was sorry and that the only option available to me was to join the Dubai cohort.

“Despite the explanation I gave that I did not have the kind of finance that could see me travel to Dubai, the company did not proffer any other meaningful solution. Its officials also later stopped responding to my mails.”

A search conducted by FIJ indicate d that Ian Owen Pasion Refugio, a British citizen, is IANS’s director. Interestingly, further search also revealed that he is a director at Connecticians.

While IANS’s status as a company on UK’s company information platform showed it is still an active business, the same platform revealed that Connecticians had been dissolved.

When FIJ sent an email to the IANS admin team on Friday for comments, an official, who would not state his or her name, responded by asking for Johnson’s details. The information the official sought was immediately sent, but no further response had been received from the company at press time.

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