FG grants citizenship to 286 foreigners
The Federal Executive Council has granted Nigerian citizenship to 286 foreign nationals.
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, made this known to State House Correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting.
The meeting was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Wednesday.
Aregbesola said the successful candidates emerged out of 600 applicants. He disclosed that 208 of those approved were granted citizenship by Naturalization, while 78 others were granted citizenship by registration, and they cut across various countries of the world.
He said: “The Ministry of Interior through me presented the Advisory Committee on Nigeria citizenship approval to the Council today.
“And is 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.
“But what is it about?
“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 Koreans, Australians, Europeans, Arabs, Asians, all over of the South Africa.
“Out of the 600 applicants, the Advisory Committee approved for the consideration of the council 280.
“Before the presentation, let me say, some agents of government scrutinized these applicants.
“The Agencies are the Department of State Services, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Nigeria Immigration Service, and the state of domicile of those individuals.”
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Federal Government had in 2017 granted 335 foreign nationals citizenship.
Also commenting on Wednesday’s approval, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, described the decision as groundbreaking, especially at a time “when some Nigerians say the country is unfit to live in”.
Mohammed said: “It’s a groundbreaking memo as it will tell you because just as some people think Nigeria is not a fit and proper place to live, we have thousands of people who are applying daily all over the world from virtually every continent to be citizens of Nigeria.
“I think that is very …