No less than 159 Nigerians renounced their citizenship in 2022 alone, just as “japa syndrome” has increased pressure on passport booklets in the country.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Dr Shuaib Belgore, disclosed these while appearing with the Minister, Rauf Aregbesola, on the ministerial media briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday.
He said this is against the 150 Nigerians that renounced their citizenships between 2006 to 2021.
Aregbesola, in his remarks, said the massive exodus of Nigerians out of the county in search of greener pastures in a phenomenon now popularly referred to as “Japa syndrome,” is fueling high demands for passports.
He stated that in 2022, the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) issued the highest number of passport booklets totalling 1,899,683 in over seven years.
Aregbesola also revealed that at least 70 foreign nationals have been deported for various infractions in the last two years.
“In the last two years, the Minister issued a total of 70 deportation orders for the deportation of different nationals from Nigeria due to one infraction or the other,” Aregbesola said.
According to him, “the majority of those deported were from the Democratic Republic of Korea, Egypt, Sri Lanka and a host of others.”
Aregbesola also disclosed that the NIS processed and issued at least 9.31 million passports from 2015 to 2022 while it also processed over 1.8 million passports in 2022.
The breakdown he gave indicated that in 2015, 2016 and 2017, the service processed and issued 941,995, 1,035,668 and 1,136,855 passports, respectively.
In 2018, 2019 and 2020, it processed 1,242,953 and 780,047 passports respectively. While 1,056,422 and 1,899,683 passports were processed and issued in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Aregbesola also noted that properties worth N3.19 trillion have been lost to various fire incidents nationwide between 2015 and 2022 with N46.1 billion of such loss occurring in 2022.
However, N25.32 trillion worth of properties were salvaged within the same period.
The breakdown from the federal fire service showed that in 2015, 2016 and 2017, properties worth N15.7 billion, N1.65 billion and N5.18 billion were lost in fire incidents.
In 2018, 2019 and 2020, Nigerians lost N26.71 billion, N16.46 billion and N32.12 billion respectively to fires, while N3.05 billion and N46 billion were lost in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
However, valuables worth N25.32 trillion were salvaged from various fire incidents nationwide.
The breakdown given by the minister indicated the worth of the properties saved as follows: N57.50 billion n (2015), N16.6 billion (2016), N426.5 billion (2017), N2.84 trillion (2018), N1.18 trillion (2019), N1.35 trillion (2020), N18.99 trillion (2021) and N448.4 billion (2022).
A total of 2,244 persons were saved from fire accidents and 366 persons lost their lives within the same period.
The Minister of Interior disclosed that there had been a fresh attempt to break into another of the country’s correctional centers after that of Kuje in July 2022, have been killed.
While he did not disclose which of the country’s correctional centres was affected, he blamed insecurity for the frequent attempts at jailbreaks, saying: “It is the season. Don’t say ha! I know you don’t want to hear it. Have we had what we are having in Nigeria today before? It is the season and it’s global.
“Why are we having assassinations in America? Bad as it is, it is horrible but in America, people get killed every second. In California within the last one week in America, 20 people have been killed. Did you asked why? It has nothing to do with technology, it could even be linked to climate change.
“When things are hard, people who cannot manage their own stability resort to those type of things. You can’t say there is no terrorism in Nigeria, we are managing it. You can’t say there is no banditry in Nigeria, we are managing it. It is because of the level of insecurity in Nigeria and we are arising to it. It is as simple as that.”
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