286 Americans, Europeans, Others Granted Nigerian Citizenship as 600 Foreigners Apply

• Not fewer than 600 foreigners applied for Nigerian citizenship, interior minister Rauf Aregbesola said on Wednesday, February 9
• The minister said 286 our of the 600 applications were approved, adding that the applicants include Americans, Europeans and others
• Lai Mohammed, the minister of information and culture, spoke on what it means for foreigners to apply for the country's citizenship

Aso Rock, Abuja - The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved Nigerian citizenship for 286 foreigners out of 600 applications.

Rauf Aregbesola, the minister of interior, made this known on Wednesday, February 9, after the FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, Channels TV reported.

He said the number of those whose citizenship was approved by naturalisation stands at 208, while 78 applicants were approved by registration.

Legit.ng gathers that the applicants are from every part of the world including Europeans, Americans, North and South Australians, etc.

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They were thoroughly scrutinized by agencies such as the Department of States Services (DSS), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nigeria Immigration Service, and the state of domicile of the foreign individuals.

In his remarks, the minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, described the decision as ‘groundbreaking.’

He said the applications for Nigerian citizenship show that things are not as bad in Nigeria as being painted, Premium Times stated.

The minister was quoted to have said:

“It’s a groundbreaking memo as it will tell you because just as some people think Nigeria is not a fit and proper place to live, we have thousands of people who are applying daily all over the world from virtually every continent to be citizens of Nigeria; I think that is very instructive."

Canada gives permanent residency to over 18,000 Nigerians in 3 years

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Meanwhile, nearly 18, 500 Nigerians were given permanent residency in Canada in the last three years. This represents the third most common country on the list of those who got an Invitation To Apply (ITA).

This is included in the Express Entry annual report for 2020 released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

It was learnt that Nigeria makes up about 6.5 per cent of the total people in the review period which ranked third after India and China. Close to 7,000 Nigerians who got the invitation were women while almost 5,000 were men.

Source: Legit.ng