….new members include Americans,Europeans,Asians, Australians
Nigerian government on Wednesday, granted 286 foreigners citizenship
Minister of Interior,.Rauf Aregbesola, who disclosed this at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting said that the government received 600 applications of which, the 286 applications were approved.
According to him, 208 applicants were granted citizenship by naturalisation while,,78 were granted citizenship by registration.
The Minister said that the applicants were foreign nationals from America,Europe,Asia and Australia adding that more approvals would be granted by the middle of the year.
“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.”
Aregbesola said all the applications were scrutinised by relevant security agencies including the DSS, NIS and countries of origin of applicants.
“Before the presentation, let me say, some agents of government scrutinized 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 said.
