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.
