My Opinion about Bet9ja’s Possible Closure

Bet9ja is a gambling company, with signboards seen everywhere across Nigeria. Its ubiquity is an indication to how much money the company makes from the country.  I just read, this afternoon, that the Nigerian Senate intends to close it for its refusal to pay taxes to the Nigerian Government. 

When I saw the news link on Facebook, I posted a comment in which I supported the closure. But seconds later, I realized I was very hasty in reaching that conclusion. I hinged my conclusion on my experience with the company. One of the company’s staffers by the name of Patricia Machado, did send me an email, proposing to advertise Bet9ja on my websites. She requested for the Google Analytics (GA) for my website. After sending it, she claimed the traffic coming to my website was low, but agreed to give me the advert if I had another website, in addition to the first one. To cut a long story short, we eventually came to an understanding. So, I followed the complicated guide to obtaining the code and adding it to the websites.  

Since they pay in advance, I requested her to pay, having added the code. She started by giving excuses and eventually stopped responding to my emails. Eventually, when she answered my email, she claimed the campaign cannot go on because the traffic is low. I was surprised; she had requested the GA, which I sent her. I tried all ways to get her to pay to no avail. I sent an email to her superiors explaining the situation, but got no respond. 

I saw the way I was treated as insulting and was done because I am in a developing country. I thought about website owners who must have had their turns before me and those that will have theirs after me. The sad experience was the reason why I promptly commentated in support of the closure of the company, when I saw the news link on Facebook. 

However, I think that my respond was propelled by anger and wasn’t based on fair judgement. Bet9ja has generated thousands of jobs to previously unemployed Nigerians. There is, thus, the need to exercise caution when the topic of closure of the company comes up. However, generating jobs for thousands of Nigerians shouldn’t be the reason why the company should act insultingly by refusing to pay taxes. There is no place in the world were a company, be it foreign or local, doesn’t pay tax, except in a situation where the government of a country decides to grant tax reliefs to a company, for one reason or the other. 

Thus, my rational observation is that, if the Senate deems it fit to close the company because it has violated certain laws that makes it unqualified to continue operating in the country, so be it. If there is any violation of contract agreement, then the deal cannot go on. The company is ubiquitous in Nigerian, trawling millions of dollars from the country. If the country isn’t getting any tax returns from the company, then the company is unqualified to continue operating in the country and should be made to close.