Twitter Nigeria has been thrown into a feisty outburst in the last twenty-four hours following the whistle blown over Bento Africa CEO, Ebun Okubanjo who is renowned for constantly bullying his employees.
After the expository publication by TechCabal titled “Tyranny in the workplace: The chaotic culture of Bento Africa”, Ebun’s reputation turned out to be bewildering.
More people have come to speak about their directive experience under the alleged tyranny of Ebun Okubanjo.
Ebun has denied all the allegations.
As the article dropped, more people started to speak up about their toxic bosses, a Twitter space that had a cumulative of 98,000+ listeners and lasted for over seven hours was opened where people bemoaned their toxic bosses.
Amongst others:
"ebun fired a whole department until it remained one person, used that one person to onboard a new set of team members". now the worst you can guess happened to that one person is that he was later sacked. well, that would have been the easiest and most merciful thang but…
— dámiláre dòsùnmú (@tarykuh) March 21, 2022
I work for Ebun for 3yrs plus and everyday I pray one day he will meet his karma. He once fired a staff on her off day .It got to point we all told him if he does not stop abusing us and treat us better we won’t come to work . We were 15 he fired 13 of us .
— Mark Ilega (@IlegaMark) March 21, 2022
On top Intenship, na wa for this Ebun man o, see what he sent someone ffs. pic.twitter.com/wqAMzWL2LK
— OTUNBA (@ManLikeIcey) March 21, 2022
https://twitter.com/gokenathaniel/status/1506235811691433985
???????????????????????? This video of Ebun Okunbanjo will always be funny and scary. pic.twitter.com/7GCcXlPCg6
— ???? @???????????????????????????????????????????????????? (@OneJoblessBoy) March 21, 2022
The most targeted companies were tech start-ups. Many people said the equivalent of international companies were nothing like their Nigerian counterparts in terms of employee welfare, even NGOs that are supposed to uplift women were accused of being brutal to employees and damaging their self-esteem.
Perhaps the most shocking is the payment of meagre amounts as salaries, sexual harassment, insults and the lack of basic human decency and respect for people’s time and personal life.
The nature of a tech start-up is almost a recipe for this kind of tyranny – a bright-eyed young person with a brilliant idea isn’t necessarily fit to lead people.
Seyi worked at a tech start-up and this was his experience, “I was working in a fintech start-up owned by one man. He just made a lot of money from crypto that time because bitcoin had gone up like crazy. It was 100% remote, so I never met him.”
“He hit on my closest work friend then he was 40 years old and she was 22. One day, he was complaining about our work rate and told us that if we are not careful, he will close the company that he had made enough money from crypto to survive. That was the day I started looking for another job. I left like a month after he said that but he stopped paying salaries after two months and everyone else eventually realised that they were jobless.”
That wanton disregard for employees is one of the worst things about these companies.
Oriaku said this about her toxic boss, “My former boss used to always come to the office near closing hours. She will bring up different tasks and say no one is going home until we are done.”
Sometimes team leads and heads of departments can make your life equally as chaotic.
Mary says, “Ever heard of crying and working at the same time? Nothing you ever do will be right. Whenever you remember work, hot tears mehn.”
A former NGO employee said, “I was conspired against because I wasn’t the same tribe as they were. When a new staff member came, they drove me away from my seat and said God will do my own because I was just a contract staff.”
Why the pervasiveness of toxic workplaces?
A basic lack of structure in a one-man business. A place where appropriate mechanisms are not put in place to control and check bad behaviour.
The work of human resources is to ensure that employees are comfortable mentally and physically and can work effectively but where the human resources department does not exist or are dormant, complicit or equally evil then the tyrannical startup CEO has unbridled power and authority.
It is said that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely because how else do you explain being sacked for not singing happy birthday on your bosses’ birthday. It seems to be a page out of a joke book.
But the lack of litigation is staggering, these actions violate people’s human rights and are against labour laws. Perhaps if more people were sued for this terrible conduct, we might see a reduction.
The court of public opinion is also important, sharing your experiences at these places and with these bosses, especially when you do not work there anymore can deter people from seeking employment there and open them to some public ridicule and that is some behavioural check.
Tech giants including Kuda, GoKada, ULesson, Prospa, LifeBank, WalletAfrica, and Bento Africa, amongst others, were all fingered in the toxic workplace scandal which has collectively garnered up to 100 thousand tweets according to Trendinalia, a social media monitoring platform.
More than 20,000 people joined the Twitter Spaces ‘#HorribleBosses Exposing Toxic Bosses and Workplaces’, hosted by journalist Kiki Mordi, where victims shared experiences working with toxic Tech Startups who underpay employees and make them work under terrible conditions.
Workplace Toxicity and Bullying
The Tech Cabal article highlighted how Ebun Okubanjo, co-founder and CEO of Bento Africa, allegedly subjected his employees to inhumane conditions including emotional and verbal abuse.
Ex-employees also revealed gaps in Bento’s employment contract, specifically where leave days and time off were concerned. Okubanjo promised employees that they could take time off when they needed it but employees dispelled that promise as a myth.
Similarly, a Twitter user, simply identified as Deji, accused his former employer, Goodness Kayode, CEO of Sprinble, of making employees work overnight.
Responding, Kayode admitted that “working late and overnight is a possibility to get things done…,” he also admitted to shouting at employees for reasons he described as “pressure from clients”
