By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The National Assembly through its joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Interior yesterday challenged the Ministry of Interior on the issuance of the expatriate quotas.
The federal parliamentarians said it was serving as an avenue for stealing jobs from Nigerians in Nigeria by expatriates.
The joint committee also said that there was credible information that prisoners from foreign lands were working in Nigeria as construction workers.
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*Interior Ministry generates N1.195bn in 10 months
This came as the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said his ministry surpassed its budgetary target of N600m revenue from the issuance of expatriate quotas in the 2023 fiscal year by generating N1.195bn from January to October this year.
Tunji-Ojo spoke when he appeared before the joint panel to defend the 2024 budget of his ministry yesterday.
The Minister said the Ministry surpassed its budgetary revenue projections on expatriate quotas and marriage.
He specifically submitted to the committee that in 2023, while N600m was targeted as revenue to be generated from the issuance of expatriate quotas to deserving foreign firms in the country, N1.195bn, has as of October 31, 2023, generated from it.
He said, “Apart from the projected revenue from expatriate quotas that had been surpassed by about N600m extra, the N380m projected revenue from marriage, has also been surpassed by over N500m with N892.774m realised as of October 31, 2023,” he said.
*Decries expatriate quotas
The Chairman of the joint committee, Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC Edo North) admitted that the Ministry surpassed its revenue targets on the issuance of expatriates’ quotas.
He said the policy is giving room for expatriates to steal jobs meant for Nigerians in Nigeria.
He said, “Your Ministry needs to regulate the issuance of the quotas very well as I have on good authority that prisoners from foreign land are working in Nigeria as construction workers.
“This is even different from the age-long fraud the oil companies have been carrying out in the country through the policy of expatriate quotas by making our qualified engineers work under foreign technicians.
“Many non-Nigerians are in the country, some of them live inside containers. I even believe and dare say that there are foreign prisoners who are working in Nigeria. They were shipped to our country to serve their prison terms.
“They were being paid according to their country’s minimum wage by the construction industry that brought them. I don’t want to mention the company’s name but if I am provoked, I will mention them.
“Honourable Minister, this is a serious issue, prisoners are not expected to work in their countries if the product or whatever they engage in is meant to be exported,” he said.
But the Minister in his response, assured the committee members that the Ministry had already come up with a project for job protection for Nigerians.
The project according to him, is the Expatriate Employee Network (EEN) primarily aimed at safeguarding jobs meant for Nigerians from being stolen by expatriates and also preventing expatriate workers from evading tax payments in Nigeria.
