By Professor Mike Ozekhome, SAN
INTRODUCTION
In a candid interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, senior British Conservative politician of Nigerian descent, Kemi Badenoch, offered a striking and controversial insight into the limitations of Nigerian citizenship law. As the UK’s Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Badenoch (formerly Olukemi Adegoke), who grew up in Lagos before relocating to the UK at age 16, is no stranger to questions of identity, belonging, and migration. However, it was her deeply personal revelation—and its legal implications—that ignited widespread public discourse, not only among Nigerians at home and abroad but also among leading scholars and constitutional analysts, particularly concerning gender equality in Nigerian citizenship.
THE INTERVIEW
With clarity and conviction, Badenoch remarked:
“It’s virtually impossible, for example, to get Nigerian citizenship. I have that citizenship by virtue of my parents. I can’t give it to my children because I’m a woman. Yet loads of Nigerians come to the UK and stay for a relatively free period of time, acquire British citizenship. We need to stop being naive.”
Her words, layered with frustration, insight, and possibly political undertones, raise an important question: Can a Nigerian woman truly not transmit her citizenship to her child, as she claimed? Is Badenoch’s assertion consistent with Nigerian law, or does it reflect a longstanding misreading, or worse, a structural gender bias, within Nigeria’s legal framework?
BROADER CONTEXT: BADENOCH’S BACKGROUND AND POSSIBLE POLITICAL MOTIVES
Kemi Badenoch, 45, married with three children to Hamish Badenoch, a 46-year-old Scottish banker born in Wimbledon, London, was herself born in the UK in 1980 to Nigerian Yoruba parents and spent part of her childhood in Nigeria. This makes her a Nigerian citizen by birth under Section 25 of the 1999 Constitution. Her sweeping statement about Nigerian citizenship may have been a rhetorical device to bolster her hardline immigration stance in the UK. By juxtaposing Nigeria’s allegedly restrictive laws with the UK’s supposedly lenient policies, she appears to appeal to British voters concerned about immigration. However, her misrepresentation of Nigerian law in service of political goals undermines the credibility of her argument and risks perpetuating negative stereotypes about Nigeria’s legal system.
WHAT THE CONSTITUTION SAYS
Chapter 3 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), provides for Nigerian citizenship. As with every sovereign state, Nigeria reserves the right to define the criteria for acquiring its citizenship. Chapter 3 outlines three principal pathways: by birth, by registration, and by naturalisation.
CITIZENSHIP BY BIRTH
Section 25(1) of the Constitution states that the following persons are citizens of Nigeria by birth:
a) Anyone born in Nigeria before independence (October 1, 1960), if either parent or grandparent belonged to an indigenous Nigerian community.
b) Anyone born in Nigeria after independence, with at least one Nigerian parent or grandparent.
c) Anyone born outside Nigeria, provided either parent is a Nigerian citizen.
Thus, Nigerian citizenship by birth is conferred if:
Both parents are Nigerians;
Either parent is Nigerian; or
Any grandparent is or was Nigerian.
This was affirmed in Shugaba v. Minister of Internal Affairs (1981) 1 NCLR 459, where the court held the applicant’s deportation unconstitutional. Similarly, in Willie Ogbeide v. Arigbe-Osula (2004) 12 NWLR (Pt. 886) 138, the court ruled that dual citizenship does not disqualify a Nigerian-born citizen from contesting elections.
BOTH PARENTS CAN LEGALLY TRANSMIT CITIZENSHIP
The Constitution is clear: both mothers and fathers have equal legal capacity to transmit citizenship to children born outside Nigeria. Kemi Badenoch’s claim, therefore, conflicts with the express language of Section 25. Provided she has not renounced her citizenship, her children are Nigerians by birth.
The phrase “either of whose parents” in Section 25 is constitutionally significant, it ensures gender neutrality. Section 42(2) further reinforces this by stating:
“No citizen of Nigeria shall be subjected to any disability or deprivation merely by reason of the circumstances of his birth.”
In Uzoukwu v. Ezeonu II (1991) 6 NWLR (Pt. 200) 708, the Court of Appeal affirmed this as a safeguard against all forms of discrimination. Thus, any claim that only men can pass on citizenship is both legally unfounded and constitutionally inaccurate.
That said, bureaucratic inefficiencies or gender biases in enforcement may exist, but these are implementation flaws, not constitutional defects.
IS ACQUIRING NIGERIAN CITIZENSHIP “VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE”?
Badenoch’s claim that acquiring Nigerian citizenship is “virtually impossible” is misleading. While naturalisation and registration may involve stringent procedures, citizenship by birth is straightforward for descendants of Nigerian citizens. Hence, her children, born to a Nigerian mother, are entitled to citizenship by birth.
Such assertions risk reinforcing stereotypes about African legal systems as rigid and discriminatory. They also obscure Nigeria’s modest constitutional progress towards gender equality.
EXPLORING GENDER INEQUALITIES
Despite Section 25’s gender-neutral language, Section 26, on citizenship by registration, exposes glaring gender disparity.
Section 26(2)(a) allows a foreign woman married to a Nigerian man to apply for citizenship. However, there is no similar provision for foreign men married to Nigerian women. Thus, Kemi’s husband, Hamish, is not eligible for registration in the same way a foreign woman would be if married to a Nigerian man.
This violates Section 42 of the Constitution and international conventions like CEDAW and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Nigeria is a signatory.
This inconsistency suggests that Nigerian women’s citizenship is seen as inferior to that of men, a deeply problematic stance in a modern constitutional democracy.
COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES
Many countries have reformed their nationality laws to eliminate gender bias:
Ghana allows both parents to confer nationality.
South Africa has gender-neutral citizenship rules.
Canada, UK, and most of the West treat both parents equally in citizenship matters.
Nigeria’s retention of colonial-era, patriarchal citizenship laws creates conflict with contemporary principles of equality and justice.
CITIZENSHIP BY NATURALISATION – SECTION 27
This path is available to non-Nigerians who:
Have lived in Nigeria for at least 15 years;
Are of good character;
Can contribute meaningfully to Nigeria;
Understand Nigerian customs and languages;
Intend to reside in Nigeria.
Naturalisation, while theoretically gender-neutral, is subject to presidential discretion, often disadvantaging women in practice.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR REFORM
1. Amend Section 26 to permit both Nigerian men and women to register their foreign spouses.
2. Strengthen the implementation of Section 25 to ensure gender-equal transmission of citizenship by birth.
3. Align immigration regulations with constitutional and international human rights standards.
4. Introduce a diaspora-friendly citizenship policy.
5. Train consular and immigration officers on gender-neutral application of the law.
CONCLUSION
Kemi Badenoch’s claim that she cannot transmit Nigerian citizenship to her children because she is a woman is legally inaccurate under Section 25 of the Constitution. Her children, by virtue of her citizenship, are entitled to Nigerian citizenship by birth.
However, her frustration—though misplaced legally—points to real systemic flaws. Section 26 entrenches gender inequality by excluding foreign men married to Nigerian women from citizenship by registration. This undermines Nigeria’s constitutional and international obligations.
Her remarks should serve not as a dismissal of the law, but as a wake-up call for reform. Nigerian women, whether at home or in the diaspora, deserve full equality in law and in practice. They are our mothers, sisters, and daughters—and must be treated as full and equal citizens.
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