Among nations whose residents received U.S. citizenship through military naturalization between 2020 and 2024, Nigeria came in at number four.

Over 52,000 military service men from various nations were naturalized by the US throughout the reviewed period.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data released Monday showed that 3,270 military members born in Nigeria were granted U.S. citizenship, second only to those born in the Philippines (5,630), Jamaica (5,420), and Mexico (3,670).

“Service members born in the Philippines, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, and Ghana — the top five countries of birth among those naturalised — comprised over 38% of the naturalizations since FY 2020.

According to the data analysis, “an additional 16% of military naturalizations from FY 2020 to FY 2024 were from the next five countries of birth — Haiti, China, Cameroon, Vietnam, and South Korea.”

According to the data, during the last five years, there has been a steady growth in the number of Nigerian service members who have obtained U.S. citizenship.

340 in 2020, 630 the following year, 680 in 2022, 690 in 2023, and 930 in 2024 were the highest numbers.

Of all military naturalizations during this time, the Army made up 60%, followed by the Marine Corps (6.6%), Navy (20.4%), and Air Force (10.6%). The Coast Guard employed less than one percent of naturalized service personnel.

“From FY 2020 to FY 2024, over two-thirds (60%) of all military naturalizations were Army service members, including National Guard and Reserves. Coast Guard service men made up less than one percent. According to the study, the Marine Corps made up 6.6%, the Air Force 10.6%, and the Navy 20.4%.

When they became naturalized, half of the service personnel were between the ages of 22 and 30.

When they became naturalized, half of all service personnel were between the ages of 22 and 30. Between FY 2020 and FY 2024, the median age of all service personnel who became naturalized was 27. Nearly 5% were over 40, and over 17% were under 21 years old, according to the data.

In terms of gender distribution, men made up 73% of the naturalized service personnel.

73% of the service members who were naturalized between FY 2020 and FY 2024 were men. Over time, the percentage of female service members climbed little, the research continued.

It can use the approximately $24 billion in loans and grants the World Bank has announced for some of the world’s poorest countries to create a record $100 billion in total spending power.

Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank Group, signed a statement on Thursday stating that donor nations had pledged $23.7 billion to replenish the International Development Association (IDA), the organization’s concessional lending arm.

Compared to the approximately $23.5 billion committed during the previous fundraising cycle three years ago, this year’s contribution represents a minor gain.
We have traversed a very difficult global environment over the past year, one characterized by economic instability, mounting debt, climate shocks, and an unrelenting demand for human progress. But in the midst of these difficulties, something extraordinary has happened: a team effort motivated by the conviction that we can and must do better for the most vulnerable people on the planet.

We are pleased to present the outcome of that endeavor today. The 21st replenishment of the International Development Association (IDA) has raised $24 billion in donor contributions, the result of months of collaboration, negotiation, and steadfast dedication from our donor community.

“This $24 billion will result in a total of $100 billion in affordable financing—the greatest replenishment in IDA’s history—thanks to its special leveraging strategy. The statement partially stated, “This is made possible by donor generosity as well as the work we have done to better optimize our balance sheet, take on more risk, and increase our leverage capacity.”

On October 20, 2024, on the third day of a severe power outage in Havana, people wait in line outside a store for food. – Hurricane Oscar made landfall in the eastern Cuban town of Baracoa as the island was getting ready for its third night of a blackout, which the authorities tried in vain to end. (Image courtesy of AFP/YAMIL LAGE)

The 78 nations “that need it most” will receive the funding, which will be used to support infrastructure, health, education, and climate resilience; stabilize economies, generate employment, and “build the foundation for a better future; and empower nations to navigate an uncertain world and unlock their full potential.”

 

Work at the Port Harcourt Refining Company’s second 150,000 barrels per day plant in Rivers State is now underway, and the Presidency has promised that it will soon be operational.
PHRC features two refineries: a 150,000 bpd plant and a 60,000 bpd facility.

In his statement titled “Putting to Rest Rumors about Port Harcourt Refinery Complex: Our Fact-Finding Mission,” Bayo Onanuga, President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, urged Nigerians to disregard unfavorable discussions regarding the recently restored historic Port Harcourt 60, 000 barrels per day refinery.

He said that although the refinery is not operating at full capacity right now, it is operating at 70% installed capacity and has plans to boost production soon.
“On Wednesday, I was a member of a fact-finding team that went to the Port Harcourt Refining Complex, which produces 60,000 barrels per day. I’ll now present our results.

Our goal was to confirm the rumors that were going around regarding the refinery’s condition, and I’m happy to say that we were happy with what we observed.

“Under the direction of Ibrahim Onoja, Managing Director of the refinery, our team explored the entire complex, including the loading bay, computerized control room, and all areas in between.

“We asked pointed questions and received satisfactory answers, dispelling our doubts and misconceptions. Nigerians must ignore naysayers and false information about the refinery’s operations.

Although it isn’t operating at full capacity right now, it is operating at 70% installed capacity, and there are plans to boost production soon. In addition, despite assertions that it does not have enough crude to refine, the refinery regularly receives supply of petroleum.

We verified during our tour that the refinery manufactures gasoline, diesel, LPG, kerosene, and low-pour fuel oil, among other petroleum products.

The latter is combined with additional ingredients to create the gasoline that we use in our vehicles. We even put product samples to the test. The refinery is now a contemporary establishment thanks to a recent renovation.

“We saw upgraded and replaced parts, including part of the 300km new pipelines. Some parts the company had not changed in 27 years have been replaced with new ones, bringing the refinery up to 21st-century standards.

“The revamping work has indeed brought the refinery back to life. What was once a 20th-century refinery has been transformed into a state-of-the-art facility.

“We also visited the co-located second Port Harcourt refinery, commissioned in 1989. Workers were busy dismantling old, rusty parts and replacing them with new ones.

“Although officials declined to provide a timeline for its completion, there was an air of confidence that it would soon be operational, joining its 60,000 barrels a day counterpart. My curiosity has been satisfied.

“I commend NNPC Limited and the refinery team for reviving this dead asset, which was on the verge of becoming a museum piece.  Our fact-finding mission has buried the various doubts and lies about the Port Harcourt Refinery Complex.”

The update and clarification follow the controversy surrounding the revival of the 60, 000 barrels per day old Port Harcourt refinery.

Last month, Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), announced that the new refinery would be operational by the middle of 2025.

Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), the founder of Afe Babalola University in Ado Ekiti, denied on Thursday that he was using his influence to deal with Dele Farotimi, a human rights attorney who was remanded by the Ekiti State Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

This came as the Take It Back Movement, an organization organized by Omoyele Sowore, the former African Action Congress presidential candidate, started organizing protests in Ekiti, Lagos, Abuja, and London. The group also criticized the judiciary and police for their handling of the case.

Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba sociopolitical organization, also criticized the magistrate’s decision to remand Farotimi.

After receiving a petition from Babalola, the Ekiti State police detained Farotimi in Lagos on Tuesday and charged him with defaming Babalola in a court in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday.

The defense attorney requested bail for his client while the police asked the court to place Farotimi in a detention facility. However, Chief Magistrate Abayomi Adeosun ordered Farotimi to be held and postponed the case to December 10, 2024.

In an interview with The PUNCH in Ado Ekiti, Owoseni Ajayi, the attorney for Afe Babalola, dismissed the alleged influence in the case, stating, “We cannot deal with him against the law.”

We wouldn’t have reported him to the police so that due process might occur if that weren’t naturally attainable. He was arraigned in court as soon as the cops arrested him.

“The people who are commenting on the matter do not know what he wrote, they are saying he was arbitrarily arrested, but he was not arbitrarily arrested,” said Ajayi, a former Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General in Ekiti State, in response to accusations that Farotimi was detained without cause.

“Why is everyone claiming that he was the victim of influence? Don’t they want him to stand up for himself? Is it using influence to ask him to defend himself in court for all the lies he put in a book and spread?

Are they implying that a person who has been defamed ought to take it that way in order to prevent accusations of influence manipulation? Nothing compares to exerting clout or influence in this situation.

“Farotimi is a lawyer, but he was castigating the Supreme Court, describing it as a haven of corruption without any shred of evidence. If he should be dealt with according to the law, is that using influence?

He added, “Are those who are talking about the matter, describing Farotimi as an activist, saying he should be defaming people because he is an activist with the hope of gaining popularity?”

On Thursday, the TIB posted a flier on social media with the hashtag “Nationwide/Global Protest Against the Judiciary,” urging people to gather on December 10, 2024, at specific locations in Ekiti, Abuja, Lagos, and London.

According to Juwon Sanyaolu, the Take It Back organization’s national coordinator, the organization will stage the protest on Thursday in order to expose what he called the “impunity of the Nigeria Police and the conspiracy of the judiciary.”

“The Gestapo’s method of arrest, or what I refer to as the kidnapping of Farotimi from Lagos to Ekiti, validates our long-standing condemnation of the unlawfulness of some police practices. We are all at risk when private citizens can now employ the police to harass another person.

It is troubling that the accused was not given oral bail by the court either. It demonstrates how the state permits injustice for the majority and selective justice for a wealthy few.

“It is on this note that we will be challenging on the street, the employment of the instruments of the law against not just Farotimi, but also the majority of Nigerians who have been victims of this. All Nigerians of good conscience must join the action to demand accountability in the judiciary,” Sanyaolu told The PUNCH in an interview.

In a post on X on Thursday, Sowore said the mobilisation “is taking serious shape.”

“The Abuja movement on December 10 is taking serious shape. People are to converge as early as 7 AM at the Federal Ministry of Justice, where the office of the Attorney General of the Federation is based.

“We must also occupy the entire Federal High Court Complex and then march on to the Police HQ. We must not forget that every crime against humanity in Nigeria is usually hatched between the @PoliceNG and the Nigerian judiciary,” he wrote, urging people to “please arrive early!”

On Wednesday, Farotimi’s lawyer, Temitope Temokun, while faulting the arrest of Farotimi from Lagos, said the Ekiti command never invited Farotimi as claimed by the police.

Temokun said, “He was invited by Zone 2 (regional headquarters of the police) on two occasions, and he went there.”

“He went there after being invited twice by Zone 2 (the police’s regional headquarters),” Temokun stated.

However, given what transpired in Lagos, why would you invite someone from that city to Ekiti? He was never invited, though, and as a lawyer, I would have told him not to go if he had been.

According to the attorney, the transportation of Farotimi from Lagos to Ekiti “is a wrong foundation that nobody can justify.”

“It has raised doubts about that process, regardless of what they will even do tomorrow.”

Kicks from Afenifere

Afenifere criticized the court’s decision to remand Farotimi in a statement released on Thursday by its Deputy Leader, Oba Oladipo Olaitan, and the National Publicity Secretary Deputy Leader, Prince Justice Faloye.

“The proceedings at the Ado-Ekiti Magistrates’ Court yesterday (Wednesday), where Dele Farotimi was denied bail despite his attorney’s application and ordered to be remanded at the correctional center for such billable offence of defamation after each of the 16 counts in the charge had been read and to which he respectively pleaded not guilty, only confirmed the fears of well-meaning people all over the world that these processes were driven by extraneous considerations outside the facts and laws of the case,” the group said.

“This is further buttressed by the fact that the book containing the alleged defamatory statements was authored and published in Lagos where the defendant resides and was abducted and at which airport the petitioner claimed a copy was obtained.

“As contained in the charge the only ridiculous reason for shopping for Ado-Ekiti as the forum of arraignment is that  the book titled ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System’ was received and read all over the world including Ado-Ekiti. The only inference that could be drawn from this is that there is no territorial limit for the trial of the alleged offence, which is laughable.

“It is ironical that the judiciary which act is apparently the subject  of Farotimi’s book and trial, may by this insensitive indiscretion also  be putting itself on trial before the world either for incompetence or apparent undue influence.”