671 foreigners get citizenship under Buhari – Aregbesola

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671 foreigners get citizenship under Buhari – Aregbesola

The Federal Government has conferred citizenship on no fewer than 385 deserving foreign nationals from different continents across the world.

Speaking at the conferment ceremony in Abuja on Saturday, the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, disclosed that a total of 671 foreigners had been granted citizenship between 2011 and 2023, noting that the Buhari regime had the highest number.

The minister also described the conferment on the 385 as a privilege, adding that not all who applied were given.

He said, “Today’s conferment ceremony will be granted to 385 foreigners who have gone through diligent checks by the relevant agencies of state as stipulated by the constitution and have fulfilled all statutory and administrative requirements.

“I need to state that the acquisition of Nigerian citizenship is a great privilege and not everyone that applies becomes successful. However, that we have a high number of foreigners willing to become Nigerians is an indication that the ongoing efforts of the Federal Government to make Nigeria a destination for investment and peaceful coexistence are beginning to yield good fruits as we continue to welcome foreigners to do business here who, after interacting with us, is now desirous of becoming one of us.

“I must state also that it is under our administration that the largest number of foreigners have been naturalised. Between 2011 and 2013, a total of 266 foreigners became Nigerians. In 2017, 335 people took up Nigerian citizenship. But last year, 286 foreigners and today at this ceremony, 385, making a total of 671 have acquired Nigerian citizenship.”

He urged that in the next constitutional amendments, the requirement of continuous residency in Nigeria for 15 years should be reduced, adding that it had made acquiring citizenship tedious.

Aregbesola said, “I am still not pleased with this figure. In Europe and America, thousands of foreigners are inducted into citizenship every year. They do this to attract youths and people in their prime who would like to contribute to the development of their countries. Let’s face it. There is a limit to your expectations from a non-citizen and it is reasonable to expect an average person to be more loyal to his or her country.

“The bane of the smooth pathway to Nigerian citizenship however is the constitutional requirement of continuous residency in Nigeria for 15 years. This is a huge disincentive, considering that in the United States and most European countries, it is five years. Some of these countries have made a habit of snatching young and resourceful brains – who after four years of schooling and working for just one year – through easy pathways, to obtain quality migration to their countries.

“Also, while the foreign wives of Nigerian men can automatically become citizens through registration, this same privilege is not available to foreign husbands of Nigerian women. This discrimination has robbed us of the gains we could have gotten from this category of foreigners, if there is a pathway for them through registration, as obtained for their opposite sex.”