In a revelation during a budget defense session at the National Assembly Joint Committees on Interior, Adams Oshiomhole, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior, accused construction companies in Nigeria of employing foreign prisoners as laborers.
Oshiomhole disclosed that these prisoners, reportedly residing in the country, are paid wages equivalent to the minimum wage of their respective home countries.
Addressing the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, Oshiomhole emphasized the need for stricter regulation of quotas issued to foreigners. He expressed concern over the alleged exploitation of non-Nigerian workers living in substandard conditions, some even residing inside containers.
Oshiomhole warned that if provoked, he would not hesitate to disclose the names of the companies involved.
Oshiomhole stated, “Your ministry needs to regulate the issuance of the quotas very well as I have it on good authority that prisoners from foreign lands are working in Nigeria as construction workers.
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“Many non-Nigerians are in the country, some of them live inside containers. They were being paid according to their country’s minimum wage by the construction industry that brought them.
“I don’t want to mention the companies’ names, but if I’m provoked, I’ll mention them,” he disclosed.