Bronwen Manby and Solomon Momoh resolution of the status of the Bakassi people, who have been left in a state of ‘near statelessness’.64 Bakassi residents who are now on the Cameroonian side of the border are reportedly taxed and otherwise treated as foreigners by the Cameroonian authorities; and without Cameroonian national identity documents, face difficulties with freedom of movement.65 5.3 Access to naturalisation, and status of the children of naturalised citizens Naturalisation is very hard to access in Nigeria: official statistics are not systematically published, but, for example, 335 people acquired Nigerian citizenship in 2017 (of whom 90 were registered, the remainder naturalised), after a four-year gap since the last group; 165 applications were rejected (with no reasons published).66 The ‘National Conference’ convened by President Goodluck Jonathan noted the ‘overwhelming need to liberalise the path to naturalised citizenship’.67 There is no provision for minor children to be included within the application for naturalisation of a parent, and they must apply independently on reaching majority. Difficult as naturalisation is, Section 25 of the 1999 Constitution is clear that children of naturalised or registered citizens automatically acquire citizenship at birth. However, there have been some internal debates within the Ministry of Interior about whether or not naturalised citizens should automatically pass their Nigerian nationality to their children. In practice, offspring of naturalised Nigerians are granted Nigerian nationality by ‘confirmation’.68 The website of the Citizenship and Business Department of the Ministry of Interior provides for the ‘Issuing of Citizenship by Confirmation’ for those who acquire citizenship under Section 25 (1)(b) and (c) of the 1999 Constitution, stating that ‘This service applies to individuals of Nigerian descent who wish to gain the Nigerian citizenship. The descendants could also have acquired their citizenship through naturalisation.’69 No such ‘confirmation’ procedure exists under the Constitution, which makes no distinction between those who are citizens based on descent from a person belonging to a ‘community indigenous to Nigeria’, and those who are children of a parent or grandparent who is a citizen. However, since 2016, the Ministry of Interior has suspended even the procedure of issuing Nigerian ‘citizenship by confirmation’ to offspring of naturalised Nigerians. According to an official of the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry set up a committee to identify the 64 Hindatu Maigari Yerima, Ranjit Singh, ‘The Bakassi Dispute: People’s Dynamics and the rise of Militancy’ Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Vol. 22, Issue 1, Ver. 6 (Jan. 2017) pp 67-70 at p.69. Accessed 14/05/2020 via https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hindatu_Yerima/publication/313214716_The_Bakassi_Dispute_People's_ Dynamics_and_the_rise_of_Militancy/links/5892b016aca272f9a55855b0/The-Bakassi-Dispute-PeoplesDynamics-and-the-rise-of-Militancy.pdf 65 ‘We’re now stateless, Bakassi Indigenes cry out’, Vanguard (Abuja), 10 June 2017. 66 ‘Nigeria grants 335 foreigners citizenship’ Premium Times/News Agency of Nigeria, 11 January 2017, https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/220217-nigeria-grants-335-foreigners-citizenship.html; ‘FG presents certificates to 335 naturalised, registered citizens’ https://fmic.gov.ng/fg-presents-certificates-335naturalized-registered-citizens/, 17 May 2017 67 ‘The National Conference: Final Draft Conference Report’ (Government of Nigeria 2014), section 5.2.2. 68 Informal discussion with a senior member of the Ministry of Interior, Citizenship and Business (C&B) on the plight of offspring of naturalised Nigerians. May 2020 (Unpublished). 69 Ministry of Interior Citizenship and Business Department website https://ecitibiz.interior.gov.ng/citizenship/overview, accessed 12 May 2020. RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/12 - © 2020 Author(s) 19