9th July, 2010
Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture, Mr. Babatunde Balogun, has called on all applicants for Nigerian Nationality to provide adequate and verifiable information to support their application.
The commissioner, who also chairs the State Committee on Nationalization, stated this at the screening of seven applicants for Nigerian Nationality held recently.
While stating that the exercise is the initial action in the process that culminates in a final approval by the Federal Ministry of Interior, the Commissioner advised the applicants to be worthy ambassadors of Nigeria if and when their applications scale through.
The exercise witnessed by officials of the Nigeria Police, Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice, the Lagos Inland Revenue Service and other relevant bodies, was also described as a success by the Director of Home Affairs who said applicants had co-operated with the Committee on requirement such as tendering other documents such as Tax clearance and immigration papers.
The applicants screened for Special Immigrant Status included Mr. Daniel Ndagason who is a Camerounian; Zouhair Madi, a Lebanese; William Vetmeer, Huberts Diers, Germans, Joselito Marinay, Philipno. Pierluigi Casrodano an Italian and Zouhair Madi, a Dutchman were screened for Naturalization.
Some of them claimed to have lived in Nigeria for over thirty years and have imbibed the Nigerian socio-cultural values, stressing that they felt comfortable in Nigeria and seldom travel to their countries of birth.