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