Nigeria grants citizenship to 174 foreigners

Nigeria formally granted citizenship to a total of 174 foreigners on Wednesday.

Abba Moro, Nigeria minister of Interior told journalists after the weekly meeting of Federal Executive Council that those who applied and were granted citizenship included 45 foreigners married to Nigerians, and 129 others by naturalisation.

The successful applicants, Moro said were from countries such as Venezuela, Mexico, Thailand, South Korea, Cameroun, Syria Lebanon, Greece, India, Singapore among others.

The Minister also said 27 applications for Nigeria citizenship were rejected by FEC because the applicants did not meet the basic requirements of tax payment and ability to live their lives in Nigeria without being economic burdens and security problems.

The minister did not give a list of the newly naturalised Nigerians.

“A series of factors were taken into consideration, but much more importantly, 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,” Moro said of the considerations that influenced approval of applications for Nigeria citizenship.

He added that the Advisory Committee on Nigerian Citizenship (ACNC) for the grant of Nigerian citizenship to foreign applicants and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission were also involved in the screening of the applicants.