First Choice Educational Consult, the company that helps students from around the world achieve their dream of studying overseas at university level, has assured clients of fair play in all transactions.
Senior Consultant, Adedeji Oshin, while denying allegations against him over consultancy services his company rendered to clients, insisted he was not declared wanted by any agency.
Oshin, who explained what transpired between his organisation and the clients, said: “In February 2023, my firm of which I am the director, had a business partnership with a United Kingdom-based consultancy firm named Waikan Consulting, who are in the business, as they claimed, of getting people care giver jobs in the United Kingdom.
“After background checks, especially through their website we deemed it appropriate to work with them as a third party. Our clients were charged between N2.9million and N3.2million (based on exchange rate at that time) for consultancy, administrative charges, logistics and training which all of them participated in and the whole process was four months which we relayed to our clients who also interfaced with the third party (Waikan Consulting).
“Four months later, precisely around June 2023, the UK firm remained non-forthcoming and of course, our clients became agitated.
“Premising on this, we instituted an interface with Waikan who claimed incomplete and unverifiable documents were submitted by applicants as a hitch to profiling our clients and this was relayed to the clients by the third party (Waikan).
“Unknown to our firm, some of these clients further sent enquiry and report to the third party demanding transactional details of our firm with the third party (Waikan). This led to a suspension of our partnership with Waikan Consulting based on an overcharge by our firm upon discovery that some freelance agents who referred some of these clients charged the clients up to N7million to N9million or more.”
In a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the educational consultant said: “Our clients were charged between N2.9million and N3.2million (based on exchange rate at that time) for consultancy, administrative charges, logistics and training which all of them participated in.
Oshin reiterated that his firm did not charge more than N3.2m from these clients, adding that, “this was made known to the clients at an interactive meeting and further correspondence with the clients. Since July 2023 and now, over 50 of these clients have been refunded and we are actively processing refunds for others.”
He assured the clients involved, that, “our firm in her over eleven years of operations has never been involved nor mentioned in any form of financial scandal and that they will get their refund in due time, as we are also pursuing our refund from the company and other individuals involved.”
The director of First Choice Educational Consult said he had reported to relevant authorities, the constant defamation, cyber bullying, blackmailing, cyber-stalking and threat to his person, and necessary legal actions shall be taken against the individuals and groups involved in this act.
“The incident has also been reported to the United Kingdom Action fraud department to investigate and recover funds. We will pursue all legal avenues to protect our company’s reputation and ensure all clients receive their due funds,” he said.
