There’s fire on the mountain. If you ask me to bring the ashes, I will gladly bring them forward. A syndicate with extreme ideology and mental troubles that specializes in grabbing teenagers and youths is growing in the country. This syndicate has hijacked the young population of the country, and the silence of the government, particularly the Federal Ministry of Youths and State Ministries, is disturbing.
The growth has become so wild, concerning, scary, and fierce. I really doubt if there is a nuclear family with young people around 13 to 35 that does not have victims. They have penetrated our homes, streets, and communities with guts. They target the old, young, poor, troubled, and disadvantaged. They move around in want and absolute lack yet preach prosperity and solutions to poverty. They wear corporate clothes to impress, deceive, and manipulate innocent ones, especially people with a vague thought of money.
These sponsors are moving fast. They are recruiting ridiculously. They work for an organization named ‘Neolife’—a company that specializes in health and wellness products, including nutritional supplements, home care, and personal care items. They give no life but want to forcefully manage people’s lives. I have no problems with their drugs, but Neolife’s marketing strategy is concerning.
Any strategy that enables or accommodates deception is disturbing. Any strategy that requires the gospel of prosperity to attract users to sell a particular product, especially a drug, is alarming. I have investigated Neolife’s marketing strategy, and I say with clear certainty that they sell more than drugs. They promote or enable modern slavery—where people work so much to earn so little.
Neolife has four marketing skills or ideas, namely, social media marketing, relationship building, word of mouth, training and support, and lastly, performance-based sales advertising. These four skills, particularly “training and support” and “performance-based sales,” are the most deadly, dangerous, and hazardous ones.
Neolife’s marketing strategy has morally bankrupted and systematically destroyed the lives of many young Nigerians. Their targets are poor people, especially teens or youths from poor backgrounds who are physically fit and can trek kilometers. They adopt deception as a strategy and lure them with ‘riches in reverse.’ These sponsors are brutal, merciless, and desperate. Do I pity them? Yes. Why? They were victims before they became sponsors. They are now looking for more victims, hence the continued rise.
These sponsors, who are in abject lack, also offer prosperity. They either approach you on the road, in your shop, or at the market with sweet words about prosperity or paste ‘fake job vacancies’ to attract or lure. These sponsors are moving too fast. How did they infiltrate our schools? They have penetrated our secondary and tertiary institutions with false narratives driven by the growing poverty, unemployment, and greed in the country.
Many students in our tertiary institutions have dropped out of school. Those who are still students pay no attention to details. They don’t attend lectures. They now prefer trekking to host communities of universities or polytechnics or colleges rather than participating in academic activities. Youths now sell parents’ properties to join the organization. Some steal money to join. Some engage in fraud to buy and consume drugs in order to meet targets.
Our sisters under Neolife marketing are now prostitutes. They sleep with men for money, not to eat, enjoy, or buy jewelry, but to meet up targets. As I write this article, I remember a young girl I met in a popular guest house in Ilesa. She is a school dropout. She was leaving the guest house around 8a.m. as I drove into the premises. She was a young and very beautiful lady. I whispered, and she answered. We spoke for a minute and exchanged contacts. I had not ignited my car when she opened her bag and brought out a small plastic bottle filled with tablets.
“You need supplements to boost your vitality, sir. We eat a lot of foods that we don’t know the sources of. When you take this drug, it will aid your digestion system, and you will become fresh. Just twice in a day,” Oluwatoyin persuaded me. I looked at her with pity. She was very fluent. How did she end up like this? My thoughts. “You have given me your phone number. Don’t worry. I will call you. We will talk better.” I told the beautiful Oluwatoyin. When? She asked. “Tomorrow or Friday,” I answered. “I will be going to Ilorin during the weekend. We have a Neolife program there. I will not be available,” a rather anxious Toyin said.
We later agreed to meet on another day. I never knew the receptionist, who happens to be a GIST partner, had seen me engaging Toyin. The moment I parked my car and trekked towards him, he shouted, “Ekun.” We started discussing, and he told me that he was the one who took Toyin and one guy to the room the other night.
“The guy was heading to Ilesa from Akure around 7:00pm when he saw Toyin by the roadside at the Akure-Ilesa-Ibadan expressway and gave her a lift. He bought two plastic bottles filled with drugs from her while they were talking at the bar. The guy left very early, around 6:00 a.m., because he’s travelling. He asked Toyin to wait the following day, but she did not,” the receptionist narrated.
I also remember the story of a young female student. She is a fresh graduate of the Osun State College of Health Science and Technology, Ilesa. We were close until she suddenly disappeared from my radar. Weeks later, she uploaded a picture of her wearing a jacket and a big shoe. I slid into her DM and wished her well. I expressed my joy that she had gotten a job and advised that she should still read more because the more the certificates, the more the opportunities.“I am now a Neolife member. I do not need schooling again. School is a scam. Many graduates are roaming the streets without jobs. I will become a CEO or millionaire within two years. Thanks to Neolife,” this was the response I received from her.
Was I surprised? Of course not. They attack minds in Neolife. They will paint you as a nobody, mock you with your situation, lure you with false narratives of rich people in their midst, imprison your mind, and the rest is history. When your mind is imprisoned, you’re already a target.
In 2024, I wrote a two-part special report titled “Undercover as a Job Seeker: From Frypan to Fire,” where I narrated my firsthand experience in Neolife. From job applications written on the wall to town hall meetings instead of a fruit company to payment for forms to networking businesses, it was an exposé. Many people, particularly youths and women, have abandoned their businesses and career jobs. As this menace keeps growing, it is concerning that there’s no response or plan from the government to curtail it.
Our best brains, who are supposed to be in critical sectors like health, education, agriculture, security, banking, and others, have been brainwashed to see the acquisition of knowledge to thrive in these sectors as a curse. There is no better time for our institutions and government establishments, particularly the Ministries of Youth and the National Orientation Agency (NOA), to rise up against this menace and rescue our teeming youths from destruction.
I must commend the management of Emmanuel Alayande, formerly College of Education, now university, for taking a drastic measure against the menace. The management has declared Neolife a persona non grata in the school. They’ve also informed students that they will be punished if they associate with Neolife sponsors. We need more schools to join in the campaign against Neolife sponsors who threaten the very essence of their foundation.
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