Welcoming visitors

You will be left in no doubt that respect for the Nigerian passport is in very short supply. All over the world it’s being made increasingly clear that Nigerians no longer qualify among welcomed visitors. Stories of our citizens being deported from destinations as far away as America, Europe and Asia are a regular occurrence. […]

You will be left in no doubt that respect for the Nigerian passport is in very short supply. All over the world it’s being made increasingly clear that Nigerians no longer qualify among welcomed visitors. Stories of our citizens being deported from destinations as far away as America, Europe and Asia are a regular occurrence. Doubtless many of these deportations are justified but many are down to simple prejudice and refusal to give a fair hearing. To be fair to these nations Nigeria has the largest population of people of African descent in the world and we constitute a large portion of the number of illegal immigrants into practically every country annually. As a result Nigerian citizens make up a large proportion of immigrant prison inmates in many countries.
True as this may be it doesn’t justify the treatment meted to law abiding Nigerians overseas. Disregard for our citizens is highly inappropriate because in the whole world we as a people are among the most sociable, welcoming and respectful towards visitors. Unfortunately this legendary hospitality doesn’t seem to work in our favour either at home or abroad. While Nigerians are being deported daily our nation is underhandedly becoming a haven for expatriates who are welcomed into the country but contribute nothing to our progress or development.  The laws regulating their presence are being circumvented with impunity. Nigeria has various classes of immigrant visa.

A Temporary Work Permit (TWP) is issued to experts like maintenance or installation engineers invited for the purpose of doing specialized jobs for short periods. Subject to Regularization (STR) is issued to expatriates entering Nigeria to take up employment. Transit and Tourist Visas of limited duration are issued to those on connecting journeys or who are here for the purpose of holiday and travel.  In terms of paid employment every non- Nigerian who wishes to reside and or work in Nigeria  must by law make an application for a combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Aliens Card which is generally referred to as CERPAC. One of the main requirements for the approval of any expatriate quota to be welcomed into the country is “evidence that personnel required is not likely to be available in Nigeria”.  Also the company must produce a training program to transfer skills to Nigerians in addition to which there must be a management succession schedule. The expatriate quota document CERPAC has two categories of Green Card and Brown Card which must be renewed every two years.
The Green Card allows non-Nigerians to reside in the country and carry out an approved activity as specified in the permit or to accompany a citizen or resident of Nigeria as a dependant. Non-Nigerians resident in Nigeria or visiting with the intention to remain in the country in excess of 56 days as well as members of the crew of a ship leaving their ship to stay ashore in excess of 28 days are required by law to register and obtain a CERPAC Brown Card. In a situation where expatriates who were welcomed into the country as “foreign technical experts” can now be found working as cashiers in shopping malls, supervisors on road construction crews, barmen in nightclubs, restaurant owners, and even selling suya! it should be patently obvious our hospitality is being abused. The designation of “technical expert” is used in order to facilitate an indefinite stay. It is a sad reflection of the times that Government prefers foreign “experts” to indigenes. It’s disgraceful that we continue to think that in all things technical and managerial expatriates can do better than Nigerians. If this was true then how do we explain how Nigerians in Diaspora excel? Many unemployed Nigerians are undisputedly more intelligent and competent than the majority of second rate foreign “experts” who are welcomed into the country to take peoples jobs. At the end of the day all considering our arrested development how useful have these foreign advisors really been?  In retrospect how many of our problems have been caused by following foreign advice rather than adopting locally proposed solutions? What is so special about the nature of the advice given or work done by the legion of expatriates who now reside in the country and take over well paid jobs that could be carried out be Nigerians?   This proliferation of foreign consultants and technical advisers only sends out a clear message of lack of faith in our expertise, locally developed intellect or education system.

Over the years different transfer of expertise policies have all so miserably failed that more than half a century after independence all major contracts are still awarded to foreign firms.  Last year the Senate Committee on Employment Labour and Productivity commenced investigation into alleged expatriate quota violations by Oil and construction firms. The firms were accused of habitually violating mandatory provisions requiring them to recruit Nigerians with relevant qualifications to understudy and replace expatriates within a specific period of time.  It is evident that the charges are true and most of the companies are violating the expatriate quota and the Local Content Act in order to perpetuate their expatriate work force and frustrate the policy on succession plans by transfer of technology and expertise. Expatriate workers in the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry are the highest paid in Africa and such expert technical positions were not meant to be permanently occupied by expatriates to the detriment of the Nigerian economy. The issues of the upsurge in expatriates and the abuse of quotas are not new. Concerned citizens have for a long time viewed it as compounding the employment crisis within then nation. The matter must be addressed with urgency and the law strictly enforced. Expatriates should not abuse our welcome and frustrate us from commencing nation building by developing local talent and national potential.