We Won’t Tolerate Violation Of Expatriate Quota Policy-FG

The Federal Government On Tuesday issued a fresh warning to foreign and wholly owned Nigerian companies, threatening that it will no longer tolerate violation of its expatriate quota policy.

The Chairman of the Special Ministerial Task Force on Monitoring and Enforcement of Nigerian Expatriate Business Permit and Expatriate Quota Administration, Bola Ilori issued the fresh warning on Tuesday during a monitored programme on TVC News.

Ilori said the poor monitoring of the policy has made it difficult to know if the companies were in full compliance with the policy.

He added that the task force would not tolerate violation of the country’s expatriate quota policy.

He said, “Maybe what has been different is that the government has before now not really made deliberate effort to enforce the level of compliance.

“The day you are approved to come, the day you come, even before you are allowed to Nigeria, the company would have agreed with Nigeria that you will employ to qualified Nigerians to understudy you.

“We are not saying employ all Nigerian graduates. We are saying employ the qualified ones. You can’t tell me that Nigeria does not have enough graduates that are qualified for your job.”

Nigeria had approved 12,000 expatriate positions for 1,182 companies from August 2019 to 2021, according to the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola.

While making the clarification, Ilori disclosed that the government expects a minimum of 24,000 Nigerians to take over from foreign expatriates at the expiration of their tenure by 2031 for approvals made in 2021 and 2029 for approvals made since 2019.

The country allows a maximum of ten years for expatriate quota.

He added, “Part of the programme is that you must also develop that Nigerian that you have engaged to do an understudy. The minister has approved 12,000 slots, the meaning of that is that 24,000 graduates minimum.”

With Nigeria’s unemployment level at 27.1 per cent, Ilori said it was inadequate for wholly owned Nigerian firms to outsource labour available in the country.

He also said before any approval is made for expatriate positions, “we will know whether such skill is needed to be imported into the country.”

He explained that any slot that would not be beneficial to Nigeria in the area of transfer of technology, knowledge and capacity, would not be approved.

He, however, said that foreign investors who intend to protect their interest in a Nigerian firm would be allowed to employ their people. This, he noted, would be subject to necessary approvals.

Ilori emphasized that no expatriate is permitted to work in the country for over ten years as required by the law.

He pointed out the problem that the Nigerian government has with hiring expatriates is the understudy programme.

The Chairman stressed that there are qualified Nigerians available to understudy any expatriate over the ten years period.