Street Media Solutions, a creative agency, has made a partial payment of N120,000 to ex-employee Boluwatife Akintola, a motion designer, months after FIJ reported on the delayed disbursement. The agency also sent pre-action letters to both Akintola and FIJ, demanding an apology and retraction of the earlier publication.
FIJ reported in April that the agency hadn’t paid Akintola a month’s salary and bonuses promised for additional work he did before he was fired.
Akintola had initially resigned from Street Media Solutions on February 3 but returned after the agency’s head, Olayemi Williams, persuaded him to stay. He worked at the agency until February 28, when his contract was terminated without pay.
DEDUCTIONS ALLOWED IN THE CONTRACT
In addition to his basic salary of N150,000, Akintola said the agency’s head promised him N100,000 for the work he did in September and October 2025. After repeated emails, the agency calculated that it owed Akintola N148,000.
FIJ reviewed Akintola’s contract with Street Media Solutions and compared it with the agency’s email setting out his February pay.
The email lists 15 infractions totalling N62,000 and deducts that amount from his N150,000 February salary, leaving N88,000. The bonuses for September and October 2025 were set at N30,000, with another N30,000 for a job done at Ilashe, all of which totalled N148,000, the figure the agency stated it would pay him.
Under clause 8 in the contract, there is a provision for a 20% deduction from an employee’s monthly salary, on 24 hours’ prior notice from the agency, once the agency has ascertained that he/she delayed in delivering assignments within set timelines, contained in clause 7, or ignored notices of delay. In the email, the agency calculated a deduction amounting to 41% of Akintola’s salary (N62,000), compared with the N30,000 that a 20% deduction would amount to.
According to clause 7, the agency is expected to pay the stipulated monthly remuneration, subject to the schedule, upon approval of the employee’s presentations of assignments or technical requirements within the agreed timelines. These are six to 12 hours for corporate proposals and other documentation branding, a minimum of six hours for the complete presentation of digital flyers, and three to six hours for event venue branding solutions.
It also includes 24 to 72 hours for the first-phase review of UI/UX design projects, 12 to 48 hours for motion graphics content, and one to three hours for on-site production or technical emergency sessions involving motion graphics and digital flyers.
Out of the 15 infractions listed by the agency, seven, totalling N35,000, were described as delays in delivery or submission. None of these seven stated which clause 7 timeline was breached, and only one, dated February 8, stated how late the work was: “over 3 hours”.
Six infractions, totalling N17,000, covered failing to resume at 9 am (N2,000), failing to be online on two dates (N4,000), failing to follow a work brief on two dates (N6,000) and delivering work below the company’s standard (N5,000).
FIJ found no provision in the contract that sets fixed amounts for individual infractions, such as the N2,000, N3,000 and N5,000 figures in the email. For work that does not meet the company’s standard, clause 6 requires the employee to modify the task at the company’s request and does not mention a deduction.
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PART PAYMENT IN OCTOBER
Akintola told FIJ that he received an email from Street Media Solutions on October 1 in which the agency stated that he had defamed them through the earlier publication. In the email, the agency said it would pay his basic salary for February and close negotiations on the bonuses.
“The Company considers the allegations and representations contained in the publication and other related statements to be defamatory and damaging to its reputation. The Company has taken note of all such publications and statements and will take them into account in determining its position regarding the disputed remuneration,” Street Media Solutions’ management wrote in the email.
“Accordingly, The basics of the month owed by the company will be paid but in view of the actions undertook to misinterpret those benefits to the point of giving wrong information to media houses to write defamatory statements against Streetmedia Solutions, this is why we have been advised by our legal department to close all further negotiations as regards the benefits.”
On October 3, Akintola received N120,000.
HARASSMENT, PRE-ACTION LETTER
After receiving the email from Street Media Solutions, Akintola said, he received a series of calls and messages from Williams, the agency’s head, that amounted to harassment.
“He (Williams) said some of his cousins overseas saw it and reached out to him. He called me and started lashing out at me, saying he would have preferred that instead of me paying you, which is funny because I never paid anybody, you didn’t ask me for anything, I paid a lawyer and took him to court,” Akintola said.
“He was shouting over the phone, insulting me, my family and my parents. He was emphasising that I lied against him. He didn’t pay me for February’s work until October. I had to stop picking his calls. It was harassment.”
Akintola shared messages he received from Williams.
On October 12, he shared a pre-action letter he received from lawyers representing Street Media Solutions. In the letter, the lawyers demanded an apology from him and a retraction of what they described as a ‘libelous’ publication about the agency.
Another pre-action letter was addressed to FIJ on Wednesday.
RESPONSE FROM STREET MEDIA
On October 9, FIJ contacted Street Media Solutions for a response on the matter.
“The organisation (Street Media Solutions) felt betrayed because your organisation was not objective in your headline. You painted a picture as regards we are debtors. You painted a picture as regards the one that erred (sic),” Williams told FIJ.
“I had to go back to most of our communication with him. Exactly last year, when we were calling and begging him. We lost a client that time based of this guy. There was a dispute on ground, get your lawyer and come up with your own receipts that look at the jobs I did, this is the volume of the work I did.
“Now, I saw your message saying that we harassed him. I entered his DM. He is my aburo, he is not my ordinary worker. It is like you having a junior brother in the house. I called him. I don’t mind to pay you that money.
“This boy started using ‘o’ for me. I am a Yoruba man. It’s me you’re calling by name? Come on now. Spiritually, it is even wrong. Anybody can publish anything, it is not a big deal to me. But it is unfair. He who demands equity must come with fair hands. There was a dispute on ground, why did you have to go and paint a picture as if they’re owing you and they don’t want to pay you?
“I read the article, and I almost shed tears. It is unfair. He is saying that the bonus is still remaining. You signed with the company. If you’re aggrieved, there is a court of arbitration. Take us to court. Go and prove your case in court. Don’t smear my name, that was defamation. I have no business with your organisation.
“It is the story he fed you guys you published. You’re asking me to react, but I feel like it is not fruitful, because if I react, you guys will still write another story that ‘he harassed him’, which is unfair. I spoke to you that day. I have the right to reprimand him verbally; we are Yorubas. FIJ should not be an agent.
“If I had anything to hide, I would not call you. I am a man of integrity, I stand on my words. I messaged him immediately. He is my aburo. He has no right to disrespect me in any form. You gave them the wrong story about us because you know what you did was wrong. He has been paid. If he’s aggrieved, it is best for him to go to court.
“Life is very easy. That is my reaction. I have the right to say that my name should not be published in any medium. I have the right to my privacy.”
In response to Akintola’s claim of harassment, Williams said, “All screenshots contain actual true facts of events of what transpired and not harassment. Hence, I called to put the record straight.”
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