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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Interior, Dr Shuaib Belgore, has disclosed that 159 Nigerians renounced their citizenship in 2022.
Belgore, who spoke at the State House ministerial briefing in Abuja, on Thursday, said the figure is higher than the 15 years preceding 2022.
He said 150 Nigerians renounced their citizenship between 2006 and 2021.
Also speaking at the briefing, Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, revealed that 70 foreign nationals were deported from the country for various infractions.
“In the last two years, the ministry issued a total of 70 deportation orders for the deportation of different nationals from Nigeria due to one infraction or the other.
“The majority of those deported were from the Democratic Republic of Korea, Egypt, Sri Lanka and a host of others,” he said.
The minister further said Nigeria recorded the highest demand for passports in 2022 because of the trend of citizens leaving the country for greener pastures.
He said the immigration service issued the highest number of passport booklets in over seven years, totalling 1,899,683.
