The United Kingdom is moving to revoke the Global Talent visas of two Nigerian men after a BBC investigation alleged that they used forged evidence to present themselves as fine art photographers.
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The two men, Silva Ndifon and Adanu Emmanuel Okoko, are believed to be living in the UK after obtaining visas through the Global Talent route.
The scheme is designed to attract highly skilled and promising professionals in fields including digital technology, arts and culture, academia, research, science, engineering, medicine, humanities and social sciences.
Applicants under the route are not required to have a pending job offer and may work for employers, become self-employed or establish businesses within their endorsed field.
According to the BBC investigation, Ndifon and Okoko allegedly posed as fine art photographers and relied on supporting material that included reviews falsely attributed to Nigerian art critic Molara Wood.
The alleged deception came to light after Wood discovered articles reviewing their work on the Nigerian Tribune website carrying her byline, although she said she had not written them.
Applicants seeking endorsement through the artistic Global Talent route are required to provide at least two examples of recent press coverage reviewing or profiling their work.
Wood said the reviews attributed to her were of poor quality, as were the artworks.
“It is writing that I would not want associated with me,” she told the BBC.
“The images were not worthy of comment.”
The Nigerian Tribune reportedly said it had identified a staff member who posted the articles on its website without authorisation.
The newspaper subsequently removed the reviews following Wood’s complaint.
The staff member reportedly said an outsider had supplied the article but denied receiving payment.
Wood said the incident appeared to reflect a wider problem involving fake articles being inserted into newspaper websites under the names of established journalists.
“There is a real problem whereupon fake articles are being implanted onto newspaper websites using the bylines of reputable culture journalists,” she said.
Wood had earlier raised the issue publicly on X after discovering a review of Ndifon’s work published in March 2022 under her name.
“Who is Silva Ndifon? Crazy thing, last night I discovered that in March 2022, a ‘review’ of Ndifon’s ‘art’ was published in @nigeriantribune – with my byline!!! Never heard of Ndifon until last night. I didn’t write this. This is fraud, grand deception, a confidence trick,” she wrote.
A separate review of Okoko’s work, also falsely attributed to Wood, was published in 2023.
Wood told the BBC that other critics had experienced similar incidents.
Ndifon has received media coverage in other publications, although the report said the material did not feature the type of fine art photography described in the article Wood denied writing.
Okoko, on the other hand, was reported to have little publicly available material connecting him to photography or other forms of art.
The BBC said it contacted the UK Home Office with the findings of its investigation, after which the visas of the two men were understood to have entered the revocation process.
The investigation also raised wider concerns about possible abuse of the Global Talent visa route.
According to the report, some companies allegedly offer to help migrants present themselves as talented artists or technology professionals and submit fraudulent visa applications under the fast-track immigration scheme.
A consultant with a London-based company allegedly told an undercover BBC reporter, who posed as a prospective client, that the firm could provide artwork produced in China, arrange exhibitions, secure media coverage and obtain letters of recommendation.
The consultant also allegedly claimed that clients who bought a “fully inclusive” package costing more than £100,000 had never been refused a visa.
For an additional £28,000, the undercover reporter was allegedly offered a Chinese art award sponsored by Forbes magazine to strengthen the application.
The report further alleged that representatives could attend gallery openings and network on behalf of the purported applicant.
The consultant reportedly said the full process could take at least two years, with the visa service costing £98,000 and an additional £1,120 postage fee for shipping up to 15 works from Beijing to London.
The company identified in the investigation, iCareer, denied offering visa services and said the consultant had left its employment before speaking to the undercover reporter.
Nigerians are among the leading applicants for the UK Global Talent visa through artistic routes.
According to the material, Nigerians have made 729 applications across artistic Global Talent categories since 2019, second only to the United States with 977.
Only 59 per cent of the Nigerian applications were endorsed, while in 2025 Nigerians reportedly topped applications and endorsements under the Global Talent route for literature.
More than 5,000 applications have been submitted by applicants of all nationalities since 2019, with 3,600 endorsements issued by Arts Council England.
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