A UK-based Nigerian doctor, Dr Kelvin Alaneme, was secretly filmed by the British Broadcasting Corporation in an undercover investigation, allegedly selling fake job opportunities to foreign nationals.

According to a BBC documentary, Dr Alaneme, a psychiatrist who had worked for the National Health Service, is the founder of CareerEdu, an agency based in Harlow, Essex.

The BBC stated that it launched its undercover investigation following a series of online complaints about his relocation services.

Reports say selling jobs in the UK is illegal.

According to the report, CareerEdu describes itself as a “launchpad for global opportunities catering to young Africans” and claims to have 9,800 “happy clients.”

The investigation revealed that Dr Alaneme attempted to recruit the BBC journalist, believing she had strong connections in the UK care sector.

He was said to have offered the BBC undercover reporter a role as an agent for his business, promising she could make a fortune by securing care home vacancies.

“Just get me care homes. I can make you a millionaire,” he was quoted as saying.

The BBC report stated, “As a potential business partner, our journalist was then given unprecedented insight into how immigration scams by agents like Dr Alaneme actually work.

“Dr Alaneme said he would pay £2,000 ($2,600) for each care home vacancy she was able to procure and offered £500 ($650) commission on top.”

Alaneme allegedly planned to sell the vacancies to candidates in Nigeria.

“They [the candidates] are not supposed to be paying because it’s free. It should be free,” he said in hushed tones. “They are paying because they know it’s most likely the only way.”

One of the victims, 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.”

Praise said he repeatedly messaged Efficiency for Care and Dr Alaneme for months, asking when he could start work. Despite assurances from Dr Alaneme, the job never materialised.

The BBC investigation found discrepancies in Efficiency for Care’s employment records.

The report revealed, “Efficiency for Care employed, on average, 16 people in 2022 and 152 in 2023.

“Yet, a letter from the Home Office to the company, dated May 2023 and seen by the BBC, showed it had issued 1,234 Certificates of Sponsorship to foreign workers between March 2022 and May 2023.”

In another secretly recorded meeting, Dr Alaneme detailed an even more sophisticated scam involving sponsorship documents for nonexistent jobs.

“The advantage of having a CoS that is unconnected to a job,” he said, “is that you can choose any city you want,” he added.

“You can go to Glasgow. You can stay in London. You can live anywhere,” he explained.

However, the BBC report debunked this claim, stating, “This is not true. If a migrant arrives in the UK on a Health and Care Work visa and does not work in the role they have been assigned, their visa could be cancelled, and they risk being deported.”

Dr Alaneme also explained how to fabricate a payroll system to conceal the fact that the jobs were fake.

“That [a money trail] is what the government needs to see,” he stated.

Responding to the allegations, Dr Alaneme “strenuously denied” that CareerEdu was involved in a scam, insisting that it was neither a recruitment agency nor a service that provided jobs for cash.

He claimed that the money Praise paid was forwarded to a recruitment agent for transportation, accommodation, and training expenses.

“He said he offered to help Praise find another employer free of charge,” the BBC report concluded.

In a post on his X.com page on Monday, he reaffirmed his stance, stating, “I have never scammed or defrauded anyone in my life. And I never will.

“We are not Care Job employers in the UK. Our job is to link qualified employees to legitimate and licenced employers and recruiters who do provide Certificate of Sponsorship.”

Emphasizing transparency in their operations, he noted, “We have always made it clear that Certificate of Sponsorship is free. That said, some recruiters and employers charge extra costs. These costs can cover training, transportation, and even accommodation and vary from employer to employer.”

He added that in cases where clients were not successful, they were fully refunded these extra costs with no questions asked.

He highlighted that their role concludes once an employee successfully arrives in the UK and is handed over to the employer.

“Every COS issued by employers to our clients was legitimate, and they all relocated successfully,” he affirmed. He further stated that over 98% of individuals placed through CareerEdu had settled into employment in the UK.

Addressing concerns about job placements, he admitted that, on rare occasions, “employers overstated their needs or recruited more persons than they had shifted for.”

He also discussed a past engagement with a company named Borderless, which promised access to employers. He explained that the goal was to become a direct recruitment agency to minimize the extra costs charged by recruiters and employers.

“The said company said they will take £2k, which should cover training and transportation costs. It sounded too good to be true compared to what was obtainable, which explained why I was enthusiastic about it,” he added.

Regarding allegations from a former client named Praise, he asserted, “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.”

He maintained that CareerEdu has always been driven by the vision to provide global opportunities for young Nigerians. However, he acknowledged a slowdown in their relocation services due to the global anti-immigration climate and unfavourable exchange rates.

In response to the BBC’s inquiries, he stated that he provided a detailed account of events, supported by evidence and that his lawyers would be handling the matter legally.

A similar report in 2024 detailed how four Nigerians were sentenced to prison for their involvement in a large-scale immigration scam involving the forgery of over 2,000 marriage certificates.

The fraudulent documents were used to enable Nigerian nationals to reside illegally in the UK.

The convicted individuals include Abraham Alade Olarotimi Onifade (41), Abayomi Aderinsoye Shodipo (38), Nosimot Mojisola Gbadamosi (31), and Adekunle Kabir (54), who were sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court in London on Tuesday, August 27.

PUNCH