The Lagos Inland Revenue Service (LIRS) and the antigraft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have reportedly begun investigations into Bento, a Nigerian HR startup for failing to remit tax and pension payments on behalf of clients. According to multiple media reports, high-profile clients including Moniepoint, Paystack, Kobo360, and Bamboo have ditched the HR startup founded in 2019 due to the repeat nature of these allegations.
TechCabal reported that Bento is being investigated for forging tax receipts, delaying pension contributions, and a litany of other financial improprieties.
The matter came to the fore when Akintunde Sultan, co-founder of edtech AltSchool accused Bento of remitting ₦100 to the LIRS after “collecting millions of naira in payments from startups.” Sultan and other founders put immense pressure on Bento suggesting mismanagement in pension and PAYE payments, on X.
“The last thing I want to do is to drag a Nigerian startup online, but Bento has forged PAYE remittance and pension remittance for over 2 years. We have a ~50m naira exposure in this,” Deji Ogundiran, Founder and CEO of Fuelmetrics Inc. tweeted on X.
In response to some of these allegations—which number hundreds on X— Bento’s CEO and co-founder, Ebun Okubanjo has acknowledged that they only represent a small part of the business. “Of 1000 plus users 30 will have complaints – legitimate complaints – but that does not a pattern make,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
Nonetheless, the founder promised to settle outstanding tax obligations for affected clients. Still, a lot of scepticism regarding whether the monies will be refunded exists. Okubanjo has been associated with lots of scandalous moments offering repeated hits to his reputation. In 2023, a viral story by TechCabal detailed how the HR tech founder created a toxic workplace which led him to step down briefly as CEO. In 2020, he scolded a customer for complaining about bad service at his gym.
While the outcome of the investigations is keenly anticipated, Bento Africa is back to where it was nearly two years ago with a serious need to improve its services and save whatever is left of the company’s public image.
