The Director, Citizenship and Business, at the Federal Ministry of Interior, Mrs. Moremi Soyinka-Onijala, is allegedly delaying approvals for expatriate quotas, preventing Foreign Direct Investments into the country.
Some firms who spoke to Heritage Times said the delayed approvals are preventing foreign investors from bringing in their participating funds and equipment into the country.
They argue that participating funds from expatriates form a large amount of operational cost for many firms in the manufacturing industry.
A source stated that “the issue of expatriate quota delay is still on, we paid for an approval initiated since September 2020.”
He said, “The DCB Mrs. Moremi Soyinka Onijala is yet to release approval letters, it has never been so bad in the interior ministry, and her action is killing the economy.”
It was also explained that another consequence of the delayed approvals is the inability to renew Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Aliens Card (CERPAC), and to travel in and out of the country.
It was lamented that they can’t bring in required expatriate skills and businesses cannot be established in terms of business permit applications only.
Expatriate quotas are approvals issued to companies to employ the services of expatriates with relevant competencies.
Expatriate quota application in Nigeria also comes after the registration of a company in Nigeria by any foreigners seeking to migrate to Nigeria to carry out any permanent work, Heritage Times learned.
After a successful application of the Expatriate Quota, the business would be in a position to process a Subject to Regularization(STR) Visa for its expatriates.
This will enable such expatriates to get the mandatory Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Aliens Card (CERPAC) that will allow them to live and work in Nigeria.
The Expatriate Quota doesn’t automatically grant CERPAC except that it might serve as a short-term stay during the pendency of an application to renew the CERPAC, experts said.
When the spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, Mohammed Manga was contacted on Monday to respond to the allegations, he requested more time to interact with relevant authorities.
Also reminded on Tuesday for a response, Manga replied that the Director has travelled and is being expected before the week runs out.
He promised to get back to Heritage Times, however at the time of publishing this report; Heritage Times gave him the assurance that the side of the ministry would be published as soon as they make them available.
