The federal government has granted Nigerian citizenship to 335 foreigners.
Muhammadu Buhari
The 335 were chosen from 500 applications received by the government.
The Minister of Interior, General Abdulrahman Dambazzau (rtd), disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of a meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The minister said the last time such exercise was done was in 2013. This, he said, explained the backlog of applications.
He said government rejected 165 citizenship applications
The minister was accompanied by the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, andthe Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.
Danbazau said out of 500 applications that were considered, 335 were recommended for citizenship approval to FEC and that the council gave its approval yesterday.
The 335 citizenship applications that were approved, he said, included 245 citizenship by naturalisation and 90 citizenship by registration.
He said: “The Ministry of Interior memo is granting of citizenship to non Nigerians who applied. This is a procedure that takes a number of steps. The last time this was done was in 2013. We have some backlog of these applications.
“Over 500 applications that we considered, out of these, 335 were recommended for citizenship and this memo was brought to council to that effect. Citizenship is either by naturalisation or by registration.
“There are 245 that applied for citizenship by naturalisation and the requirements to be met are clearly stated in section 26 of the constitution.
