FG to rein in foreign service providers over security breach
The Federal Government may have begun investigating some foreign service providers and expatriates in a move aimed at blocking security breaches.
Investigation by The Guardian reveals that besides flouting immigration laws, the foreign organisations also milk the economy, repatriating huge profits to their home countries. It also found that some so-called expatriate staff were undercover agents gathering intelligence for their countries.
According to a credible source, Federal Government officials received approval recently to investigate contractors of some bilateral development organisations.
Findings showed that that some contractors used by development partners like the United Kingdom (U.K.) sponsored Department for International Development (DFID) have consistently circumvented standard procedures.
One frontline contractor, though not known to be involved in any security intervention project, is currently harboring two former officials of the British Military Advisory and Training Team (BMATT).
“There are other personnel of the organisation (name withheld) that we can confidently point at, given their antecedents, that they are on a clandestine mission that suggest intelligence gathering.
“Programmes such as Growth and Empowerment in States (GEMS 3), Nigeria Infrastructural Advisory Facility (NAIF), among others, have embedded personnel deployed in ministries, agencies of government and parastatals, even in the office of the Vice President,” the source said.
He cited a former security officer, also in charge of consular affairs for the Canadian embassy in Nigeria, who had vast knowledge of the terrain, “but now has a residence permit as project manager for one of the NIAF projects. There are many other instances that the government would be looking at, where people are suspected to be involved in subterranean activities indicating intelligence gathering. These include two intelligence-gathering networks in Abuja. One is registered in Nigeria. The other is run by a United States-based firm (names withheld).”
The source added: “Some of these well known service providers have flouted immigration laws and instead concentrated their energies on making huge profits from Nigeria, more than the original plan to offer development assistance to the country. Of greater concern is the willful disregard for the laws of the country and brazen insensitivity to the cultural standards of the Nigerian people.”
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