2024 Budget: N’Assembly lauds Interior Ministry’s N1.2bn expatriate quotas in 10 months

Joint session of Committee of Interior of both Senate and House of Representatives, on Wednesday, lauded the Ministry of Interior for surpassing its budgetary target of N600million revenue from issuance of expatriate quotas in the 2023 fiscal year, by raking in the sum of N1.195billion from January to October this year.

Chairman of the joint committee, Senator Adams Oshiomhole (Edo North), made the commendations when the Minister of Interior, Rt. Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo led the heads of agencies under the ministry to the National Assembly on budget defence exercise.

The Minister in his presentation to the joint committee in 2022 and outgoing 2023 fiscal years, said the Ministry surpassed its budgetary revenue projections on expatriate quotas and marriage.

He specifically submitted that, in 2023, while N600million was targeted as revenue to be generated from issuance of expatriate quotas to deserving foreign firms in the country, N1.195billion had, as at October 31, 2023, been generated from it.

Oshiomhole, while lauding the ministry, said, “aside the projected revenue from expatriate quotas that had been surpassed by about N600m extra, the N380million projected revenue from marriage, has also been surpassed by over N500million with N892.774 million realised as at October 31, 2023 “.

Merit and demerits of issuance of the expatriate quotas by the Interior Ministry to deserving foreign companies, also came to the fore during the Wednesday’s session.

The Lawmakers, however, advised the ministry to regulate issuance of the quotas very well to avoid prisoners from foreign land working in Nigeria as construction workers, saying, there was a rumour to that effect.

“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”, Oshiomhole added.

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 at safeguarding jobs meant for Nigerians from been stolen by expatriates and also prevent expatriate workers from evading tax payment in Nigeria.