Senate probes abuse of expatriate quota

Posted by admin Legislature, Senate Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

Senate has directed Committees on Interior, Employment, Labour and Productivity to investigate the abuse of expatriate quota by foreign multinationals operating in the country. The committees have also been mandated to conduct a public hearing on all allegations surrounding the matter.

Sponsor of the motion, Senator Wilson Ake told the Senate that there were avalanche of petitions, complaints and newspaper publications of improper application of the expatriate quota in the country.
In his contribution to the debate, Information and Media Committee Chairman, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe noted that “this matter is urgent and crucial at this moment in the life of Nigerians.

A few days ago, a furore came up as regard to what happened when a company sacked about 3000 Nigerians to bring Indians to do the same menial jobs that Nigerians were doing. We have seen instances where expatriates take over the job of Nigerians through the Foreign Direct Investors, who owned the companies. This is not a matter we can easily sweep under the carpet.

“Unemployment rate increases by the day, especially graduates’ unemployment. At the end of the day, we should ask ourselves how to get the economy going again. The way is to create employment and as such, we must not give out our employment. For every job we put expatriate, there are two parts to it, we give away our employment positions as well as maintain the expatriate. What we are seeing is the invasion of Nigeria by expatriates at a time when Nigerians do not have job. There should be investigation by the committee. It is our duty to protect Nigeria and Nigerians and not to support a half-baked person to come and take over the work of Nigerians.”

But Chairman of Works Committee, Senator Ayogu Eze urged the chamber to disregard the motion as “there is no evidence to support what the motion is seeking to do. When we talk about direct foreign investment, we should be careful. If people are importing their experts to develop our economy, we should be careful.”
Senator Gbenga Ashafa asked the Senate to tread carefully as Nigeria should not be seen as discouraging direct foreign investment.

“If you look at the index, investment is rising and Nigeria is encouraging investors to come in. By that, what happens is that the number of expatriate will increase but the bone of contention is on specialised areas where investors will come in to train some people.

We should be careful so that bad signals are not sent. Now, we need a lot of foreign investors but in a situation where Nigerians are anti-foreigners will not help our economy. Though, I am a co-sponsor of the motion, I am saying that more research should be done.”
Niger Delta Committee Chairman, Senator James Manager also agreed that Senate investigate the matter “to know the real problems. The chairman, Senate Committee on Labour should have access to details as far as employment is concerned.”

But Senator Pius Ewherido was unconvinced. “I want to state that this motion does not in any way seek to condemn the use of Foreign Direct Investment but to condemn the abuses of foreign direct investment.
“I want to ask two questions, must we have foreign direct investment to the detriment of Nigerians? Whatever information we are looking for, I am not sure that beyond what we know, anybody will give you information without investigation. An ad-hoc committee was set up to look into the activities of commercialized companies in the country and this issue would have been part of their investigation. I don’t know if there is any job done by foreigners that Nigerians cannot handle. We have experts all over the world. Nigerians are trained in so many areas. If we have to know, we should ask ourselves if we can get the report without investigation.

Ruling on the matter, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu who presided over the session urged the committees conducting the probe to bring recommendations that Senate can work on.
“The question raised is to know whether expatriate quota is good for us. I think it is good for us because Nigerians are also working all over the world. I believe the committee if approved, should be able to advice along this line,” said Ekweremadu.

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