THE Federal Government has approved the conferment of Nigerian citizenship on 179 foreign nationals who wished to acquire it. Out of the figure, 45 individuals were granted citizenship by registration, while 129 applications for naturalisation scaled the hurdle.
Information Minister Labaran Maku and his Interior counterpart, Comrade Abba Moro, as well as Finance Minister of State Yarima Lawan Ngama briefed correspondents on the developments Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
According to Maku, the Council “approved of the report of the cabinet committee to review the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Nigerian Citizenship (ACNC) for the grant of Nigerian citizenship to foreign applicants.”
He contended that the high demand for Nigerian citizenship was an indication of the ever-increasing confidence for the country which “cuts across all the countries of the world.”
Moro gave a breakdown of the approvals thus: 45 women married to Nigerians were granted citizenship by registration; 129 by naturalization, while a total of 27 applications were rejected and were not approved by the Council because they did not meet the basic requirements of tax payment and ability to live their lives in Nigeria without being economic burdens and security problems.
Most of the applicants came from South American countries such as Venezuela and Mexico. Besides, there are Asians as well as African countries like Thailand, South Korea, Cameroun, Syria Lebanon, Greece, India and Singapore.
He added: “In going through this and making recommendation to the FEC, a series of factors were taken into consideration, but much more importantly is the issue of security that has become very serious consideration especially when foreigners from countries that are prone to violence such as Lebanon and Syria apply to become Nigerian citizens.”
“The EFCC submitted its report on the 79 applicants referred to it in 2012; and recommended only 51 out of the 79 applicants for citizenship. 24 out 79 applicants were not recommended by the EFCC.”
