…..Interior Ministry surpasses revenue target, rakes in N1.195bn on expatriate quotas in 10 months
The Ministry of Interior has surpassed its revenue target of N600 million from issuance of expatriate quotas in the 2023 budget by raking in N1.195 billion from January to October this year.
This came to the fore as the National Assembly joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Interior considered the 2023 budget performance and 2024 budget proposal of the ministry on Wednesday.
Merits and demerits of issuance of the expatriate quotas by the Interior Ministry to deserving foreign companies was discussed during budget defence session which the Minister of Interior, Hon Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo had with the joint Committee.
The Minister in his presentation to the joint committee, in 2022 and outgoing 2023 fiscal years , the Ministry surpassed its budgetary revenue projections on expatriate quotas and marriage.
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He specifically submitted to the committee that in 2023, while N600vmillion was targeted as revenue to be generated from issuance of expatriate quotas to deserving foreign firms in the country, N1.195 billion has as at October 31, 2023 generated from it.
“Aside the projected revenue from expatriate quotas that had been surpassed by about N600 million, the N380 million projected revenue from marriage, has also been surpassed by over N500 million with N892.774 million realised as at October 31, 2023”, he said.
However, the Chairman of the joint committee, Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC Edo North) drew the attention of the Minister to the fact that while it is heartwarming that the Ministry surpassed its revenue targets on issuance of expatriates quota,that the policy is giving room for expatriates to steal jobs meant for Nigerians in Nigeria.
According to him, “your Ministry needs to regulate 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 own qualified engineers to work under foreign technicians.
“Many non-Nigerians are in the country, some of them live inside containers. I even believe and dare say it 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.
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“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 project for job protection for Nigerians”.
The project according to him, is Expatriate Employee Network (EEN) primarily aimed to safeguard jobs meant for Nigerians from been stolen by expatriates and also prevent expatriate workers from evading tax payment in Nigeria.
By Haruna Salami
