The Federal Executive Council yesterday granted citizenship to 335 foreigners and disqualified 165 others.

The Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazzau, disclosed this to State House correspondents after the FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said before granting the citizenship, the council approved recommendation of an advisory committee comprising representatives of the Department of State Security and Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice.

Dambazzau said the committee had received over 500 applications for citizenship out of which 335 were recommended.

The minister explained that of those granted, 245 applied for citizenship by naturalisation and 90, by registration.

He noted that in considering all the applications, the committee adhered to relevant provisions of the constitution.

Dambazzau said his ministry had some backlogs of applications for citizenship as the last time it was granted was in 2013.