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Vows to probe circulation of substandard petrol
By Egena Sunday Ode
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) Wednesday approved the application of 286 foreigners to become Nigerian citizens.
Briefing newsmen on the outcome of the weekly FEC meeting, Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola said that the approval for the foreigners was considered after security clearance by the relevant authorities in the country.
According to him, Council considered a report presented by an Advisory Committee on Nigerian Citizenship which had submitted same to the Ministry after a thorough scrutiny of the applicants who sought to become Nigerians.
Aregnbesola said: “This is the first set, by the end of this first quarter or latest by the middle of the year another set will be presented to council.
“We received 600 applications from several people, foreign nationals who have been residing in Nigeria, but desirous of being Nigerians. These applicants are from virtually every part of the world. Americans, North and South Korean, Australians, Europeans, Arabs, Asians, all over of the South Africans.
“Out of the 600 applicants, the Advisory committee approved for the consideration of the council 280. Before the presentation, some agents of government scrutinised these applicants. The Agencies are the department of State security, the foreign affairs ministry, the Nigeria immigration service, and the state of domicile of those individuals.
“The state will give us their record of relationship from the community to all the levels in the state to be sure that they are men and women of integrity and good character. So, it is all of these that the Advisory committee looked at to shortlist and recommend 280.”
The Minister also explained that granting of Nigerian citizenship was in two categories: “There are those that we consider for naturalisation. And there are those we consider for registration, the women.
“They are woman married to Nigerians, they are called Naija wives, who besides having the right of residency and movement, without any restriction or without requirement of visa to and fro the country, are desirous of being Nigerians.
“So, they become Nigerians, they get grant of citizenship by registration. Whereas foreign nationals who are desirous of being Nigerians, without necessarily being wives of Nigerians are given citizenship by naturalization.
“So, the number of those who are granted Nigerian citizenship by naturalisation through the consideration of their applications is 208. While those who are granted citizenship by registration are 78. So, today FEC approved the grant of citizenship to 208 applicants for naturalization and 76 applicants for registration making a total of 286 people out of 600 who applied for our citizenship as eligible to be fully processed through application of oaths and certification thereafter with renunciation of citizenship that is not acquired by birth.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Government said it will carry out thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the circulation of adulterated petrol in the country.
Petrol allegedly diluted with methanol has been circulating in the country, giving motorists great concerns, even as they have lamented the damaging effects of the adulterated product on their vehicle engines.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, while answering questions from newsmen after the virtual FEC meeting said steps were already being taken to address the situation.
Sylvia said, he had met with President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday over the situation, confirming there are issues needing attention and that appropriate steps are already being taken to sort out the crisis.
On whether the culprits behind the importation of the adulterated fuel had been found or if there would be sanctions meted out to them when identified, Sylva said: “the issue did not come up in Council, but of course, you will recall I was here yesterday to brief Mr. President on the issue. I’m not in a position to disclose the identities of the companies, but there are some issues and we are actively tackling it.
“Nobody has, before now, checked for methanol in our fuel, it’s not very usual and this is the first time this is happening and NNPC is very much up to the task. I will also convey your question to NNPC and maybe the Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority, but we’re actively handling it and I want to assure you that the problem will be a thing of the past very soon”, he said.
On whether culprits would be blacklisted or victims compensated, the Minister said “I didn’t expect you to rush to any conclusions, there’ll be a major investigation to unravel everything and then let’s really get to the bottom of it before we can come back and tell you what is going to happen to the culprits.
“We know that some people’s vehicles must have also been damaged, that is also going to be taken into consideration in dealing with the situation”, he assured.
The Minister had earlier, during the post-FEC briefing, disclosed the approval granted to his ministry by Council, saying that Council closed out the contract for the construction of the 17-storey Local Content Building in Yenagoa at the cost of N1.817 billion.
Also speaking at the briefing, Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, said FEC approved a contract for the replacement of Aviation Operations (AVO) at the cost of N12,097,215,800.09.
“Today in Council, a memo has been presented by us in aviation and the amount of the contract to be awarded, which purpose is to replace our AVO bridges, is N12,097,215,800.09, which is for 12 months and it will include seven and half % VAT.
“This contract is not only for supplying, but it’s also for installation and maintenance, including spare parts and is awarded to a company called Gulf of Africa International Limited.
“This has been taken by Council and approved and to say that this is part of all that we’ve been doing to reactivate the failing infrastructure within the country and of course, Lagos being the major airport in the country.
“This will make passenger facilitation easier, safer and of course it will add value and create more efficiency within the system of that particular airport. This is also an ongoing program for all of our failed airports,” he said.
