Madieni Ninato Etasi, who specialises in arranging redeployment offers for prospective corps members (PCM), has gone silent on graduate Mary Tobi after collecting N90,000 to facilitate her relocation from Bayelsa State to Oyo State.
FIJ understands that paying agents for National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) redeployment is unofficial and unlawful but it has become a trend among many PCMs for many reasons, including safety concerns, job opportunities, cost of living and distance from their homes.
Tobi, now a corps member who asked that her name be shortened in this report, was referred to Etasi by a fellow prospective corps member who had joined a WhatsApp group he created to coordinate his illegal relocation business with potential customers.
FIJ reviewed the WhatsApp chats between Tobi and Etasi as well as evidence of the money transferred to the two Moniepoint and OPay accounts he provided.
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Currently posted to Bayelsa State, Tobi explained to him that she wanted her state of service to be Oyo. In another chats, they spoke about the possibility of working out her place of primary assignment (PPA). Etasi assured her it was doable.
“We agreed on total contract terms where I would pay N70,000 for relocation and it would be paid twice: N50,000 first and N20,000 after the job was successfully done. I transferred the deposit from my Zenith Bank account,” Tobi said.
She supplied her portal login information to the agent, who then promised her that “my work doesn’t take time” and told her that the money was 100% refundable.
On September 2, he reverted to Tobi that his contact at the NYSC information and communication technology department advised him to be patient and that everything would work out fine.
Etasi provided some relief to his anxious customer when he assured her, in response to her question about when her portal would be updated, that the new state of service would reflect on her portal on September 17.
That assurance was what prompted Tobi to complete the payment for the PPA facilitation to her chosen local government area.
“And then, I paid N40,000 for the PPA reposting in two equal halves,” she added.
With a reasonable amount already paid to him and Tobi increasingly hopeful that Etasi was going to keep his word, the agent asked her to send another N40,000, an amount higher than the outstanding balance.
Tobi reminded him about their agreement and insisted she was not going to send any more money until her portal was updated to reflect Oyo State.
“Your relocation is on hold. Your work is pending. The more you keep dragging [your foot], the more time runs,” Etasi told her.
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On the basis of the new payment request, Tobi said she was no longer interested in the arrangement and demanded a refund.
“No refund because your work is pending,” he responded to her request.
Messages successfully sent to Etasi via SMS and WhatsApp on Tuesday for his comment on this story received no response. Calls to his phone number also rang out twice.
His WhatsApp Business profile indicated he lived in Kogi. A website, linked to his WhatsApp profile, was unreachable when FIJ attempted to visit it at press time.
When his line was dialled on another phone on Wednesday, Etasi answered the call. He ended the call, however, the moment our reporter explained the purpose of the call. His phone number became unreachable afterwards.
The post Bayelsa Corps Member Done With Illegal Redeployment Plan, Yet Agent Madieni Ninato Etasi Denies Her N90,000 Refund appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.