7th December, 2023
By Oluwatofunmi Adedokun
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior, Adams Oshiomhole, has raised the alarm that prisoners from foreign countries are working at construction sites in Nigeria.
The former governor made this claim in Abuja on Wednesday when the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, appeared before the National Assembly Joint Committees on Interior for a budget defense session.
“Your ministry needs to regulate the issuance of the quotas very well as I have it on good authority that prisoners from foreign lands are working in Nigeria as construction workers,” Oshiomhole said.
He said though it was heartwarming that the ministry surpassed its revenue targets on the issuance of expatriate quotas, the policy was giving room for expatriates to steal jobs meant for Nigerians in Nigeria.
He further stated, “Many non-Nigerians are in the country, some of them live inside containers. 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 companies’ names, but if I’m provoked, I’ll mention them.”
Responding, Tunji-Ojo said his ministry had already come up with the Expatriate Employee Network aimed at safeguarding jobs meant for Nigerians from being stolen by expatriates.
He said the ministry had raked in N1.195ln in revenue from the issuance of expatriate quotas from January to October this year, surpassing its N600m target
He also said the N380m projected revenue from marriage registration was also surpassed over N500m with N892.7m realized as of October 31 he confirmed.