A TikTok subcontractor, Teleperformance Kenya, has refuted claims that it prevented a Nigerian content moderator, Ladi Olubunmi, from traveling home before her passing.
According to a report by ABC News on Wednesday, Olubunmi’s decomposing body was discovered in her apartment last week, three days after she had reportedly died.
However, Teleperformance Kenya told The Associated Press on Wednesday that it did not deny Olubunmi’s request for leave.
Reports from international media suggested that Olubunmi’s colleagues revealed she had shown signs of extreme fatigue and was eager to return to Nigeria before her untimely death.
Despite being entitled to an annual return ticket to Nigeria, her colleagues alleged that she was unable to take leave due to issues surrounding her work permit.
Olubunmi was said to have pleaded with her managers for permission to travel home, but her request was unsuccessful—a claim Teleperformance Kenya dismissed as “baseless and untrue.”
The late content moderator had moved to Kenya in 2022 to work for TikTok through Teleperformance, a French outsourcing firm contracted by the social media giant.
Following her death, tech workers in Kenya gathered for a vigil in her memory, mourning their colleague and raising concerns about harsh working conditions, which they believe may have played a role in her passing.
As reported by AP, Kauna Malgwi, a friend of the deceased, claimed that over 100 Nigerians employed by Teleperformance Kenya have been stranded due to a lack of valid work permits, preventing them from traveling home despite having return ticket benefits.
“More than 100 Nigerians are working under Teleperformance who haven’t had work permits for the last two years, and so they have not been able to travel home despite having an annual return ticket benefit,” Malgwi stated.
Efforts to obtain a response from the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission regarding their intervention in the case were unsuccessful, as spokesperson Abdulrahman Balogun did not respond to calls or inquiries from The PUNCH on Wednesday.
This incident adds to previous cases of Nigerians dying under mysterious circumstances in Kenya. In July 2021, two Nigerians lost their lives at a house party in unclear circumstances, one reportedly fell from the 7th floor of Skyhorse Apartment in Kilimani, while the other collapsed in the kitchen and was later pronounced dead.
