…Targets $1.467 billion from expatriates by 2040
The Federal Government has initiated moves to explore the Public Private Partnership (PPP) business model in order to raise funds and boost its capacity to undertake the development of critical infrastructure projects across the country.
It would be recalled that as at 2021, Nigeria needed $1.5 trillion in ten years to bridge the nation’s infrastructure gap.
A former Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba said at the weekend that for such a vision to be realised, it would amount to the government making an investment of $150 billion annually over a ten-year period.
The government is also seeking to leverage on huge revenue expected from expatriates working in Nigeria, whose population currently stands at about 50,000 and an annual revenue of $617m. It was also learnt that there are plans to grow the expatriate revenue to about $1.467 billion by 2040.
The new revenue system, it was gathered, would be different from the sundry taxes generated from expatriates working in the country, through the grant of Expatriates Quota to multinational companies. It will rather be drawn from expatriates in all critical sectors including construction, telecommunication, health, oil and gas.
There are also projections that the revenue system would stimulate higher employment for Nigerian nationals in the private sector by closing the wage gap (cost of labour) between the Expatriates and the Nigerian labour force.
According to an official document on the new revenue plan, the Ministry of Interior and the Nigeria immigration Service (NIS) will play significant roles in the efforts to not only generate more revenue but also to balance out employment opportunities between Nigerian nationals and expatriates in the country.
The Ministry of Interior will be responsible, among others, for providing complete data on quota issued to all companies and will also be responsible for authorizing Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to provide the data on quota utilization of the companies to ascertain the numbers of expatriates working in Nigeria.
The NIS is responsible for issuing all Nigerian travel documents, including the biometric visa; the issuance of residence permits to foreigners in Nigeria; border surveillance and patrol amongst others.
“The details will include, but not limited to, information on companies with Expatriate Quotas, the status of occupied quotas, individuals occupying those quotas with their dates of entry in Nigeria, last renewal dates and next renewal due dates.
“Revenues from foreign investment in Nigeria have been payments made to the NIS, and taxes remitted to the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS).
“The law provides for payment of taxes such as the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) cap P8 LFN, 2007, as amended, which forms the legal basis for taxation of employment income, including those earned by Expatriates working in Nigeria, but there is no existing legal framework for the new revenue source that the measures in the works target.
“However, the narrative is expected to change soonest as a new regulatory framework would be unfolded to provide legal and regulatory context,” the official document read.
The principal law governing expatriate employment in Nigeria is the Nigeria Immigration Act 2015 and Immigration Regulation 2017. Under the extant laws, any foreigner who intends to work in Nigeria must obtain the consent of the Comptroller General of immigration. This consent is obtained in the form of an Expatriate Quota by the company or organization, which permits them to employ expatriates to specifically approved jobs and for a specific period with a view to training Nigerians under them and transferring these requisite skills during their period of employment. Expatriate quota is granted for an initial period of three years, renewable for two years subject to a total life span of seven (7) years, within which such relevant skills ought to have been transferred to qualified Nigerians who were under-studying such expatriates.
