A total of 335 foreign nationals were granted
citizenship by the Nigerian Government after statutory clearance and due
diligence by the relevant security agencies and Mrs Iara Oshiomhole,
Wife of former Governor of Edo, Adams Oshiomole, who hails from Cape
Verde was one of the recipients.
Abdulrahman
Dambazau the Minister of interior who presented the certificates of
citizenship to the foreigners charged them to be good ambassadors of
Nigeria.
Dambazau in his remarks said that
335 applicants were approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in
January, out of the over 500 foreigners that applied.
He
explained that 245 of the foreigners approved were granted Citizenship
by Naturalisation while 90 were by Registration, mainly foreign women
married to Nigerians.
The last time a similar
ceremony was conducted was in December, 2013. It’s the duty of the
Ministry of Interior and the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to
process applications for Naturalisation from foreign nationals who have
stayed/lived in Nigeria for a minimum of 15 years and those by
Registration who are mainly married to Nigerians.