By Emmanuel Nduka
Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, has granted citizenship to 286 foreign nationals out of the 600 applications it received.
This was disclosed by the country’s Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, stating that the approval was given by the President after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday.
Aregbesola said the Government received 600 applications for citizenship from foreigners, adding that the applicants included Americans, Europeans, North and South Koreans and Australians.
While he did not provide the list of the new Nigerians or of the applicants, he said 208 of those approved were granted citizenship by naturalisation, while 78 others were granted citizenship by registration.
“The Ministry of Interior through me presented the Advisory Committee on Nigeria citizenship approval to the Council today. And it’s the first set. By the end of this first quarter or latest by the middle of the year, another set will be presented to council.
“We received 600 applications from several people, foreign nationals, who have been residing in Nigeria, but desirous of being Nigerians.
“These applicants are from virtually every part of the world. Americans, North and South Korean, Australians, Europeans, Arabs, Asians, all over of the South Africans. Out of the 600 applicants, the advisory committee approved for the consideration of the council, 286,” the Minister said.
He further noted that all the applications were scrutinised by relevant security agencies.
“Before the presentation, let me say, some agents of the government scrutinised these applicants. The agencies are the department of state security, the foreign affairs ministry, the Nigeria Immigration Service, and the state of domicile of those individuals,” he added.
