NIGERIA. Abuja: The Nigerian government has granted citizenship to 286 of the 600 foreigners who applied for it. Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Interior, revealed this in the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja.
Aregbesola stated that successful applicants are subjected to stringent scrutiny by the Ministry of Interior, with assistance from the Advisory Committee on Nigerian Citizenship.
He went on to say that the 286 approved applications are less than half of the total number of applications received, and he urged interested applicants not to worry because another set of applicants will be considered by the middle of this year.
European, American, Arabs and others acquire citizenship
The applicants included Americans, Europeans, North and South Koreans, Arabians, Assassins, South Africans, and Australians.
However, Aregbesola added that 208 people were approved through naturalization, while the remaining 78 were granted citizenship through registration.
Aregbesola went on to say that the agencies in charge of screening the applications include the Department of State Security, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Nigeria Immigration Service, and the state of residence of those individuals.
“We have received 600 applications from different parts of the world from foreign nationals who have been residing in Nigeria but are desirous of being Nigerians,” he added.
During the FEC meeting, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, stated that the number of foreign nationals seeking to become Nigerian citizens demonstrates that the country is not as bad as the antics portray.
As a result, Mohammed lauded the achievement and urged the new Nigerian citizens to serve as good ambassadors for their country.
“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 instructive,” Mohammed said.
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