The Presidency has responded to recent remarks by the leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, over her assertion that Nigerian citizenship laws discriminate against women.
Badenoch, while speaking on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria programme on Sunday, claimed she could not pass on her Nigerian citizenship to her children simply because of her gender. She also suggested that it is easier for foreigners to acquire British citizenship than it is to become a Nigerian citizen.
“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,” she said during the interview. “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.”
The comment has since sparked widespread reaction, with many describing it as a misrepresentation of the Nigerian Constitution.
Presidential aide, Dada Olusegun, criticised Badenoch’s statement, accusing her of peddling misinformation that undermines her country of origin. Reacting via his official X handle on Monday, Olusegun described her comments as “dangerous” and “desperate.”
“Aunty @KemiBadenoch, why do you continue to lie against your motherland? Why this continuous, dangerous, and desperate attempt to malign Nigeria?” Olusegun wrote.
He cited the relevant legal provision to refute Badenoch’s claim: “Chapter 3, Section 25(1)(c) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution states that if the Nigerian woman is a citizen by birth, her children, whether born in Nigeria or abroad, are Nigerian citizens by descent, automatically under Section 25 of the Constitution. This holds regardless of the father’s nationality.”
Legal experts have affirmed that the Constitution clearly grants citizenship by descent to children born outside Nigeria if at least one parent is a Nigerian citizen by birth. Gender is not a limitation in this regard.
Olukemi Adegoke Badenoch, born in the United Kingdom to Nigerian parents, spent part of her childhood in Lagos before returning to the UK at age 16. She is married to Scottish banker, Hamish Badenoch, and they have three children.
According to Section 25(1)(c), a person is a citizen of Nigeria by birth if “either of their parents or grandparents was a citizen of Nigeria.” This clause has long served as the basis for citizenship rights for children born abroad.
The Nigerian Constitution also recognises dual nationality. Under Section 28(1), a person who is a Nigerian citizen by birth may acquire the citizenship of another country without forfeiting their Nigerian citizenship. However, this privilege does not extend to individuals who acquired Nigerian citizenship through naturalisation or registration a category where foreign spouses typically fall.
Section 26(2)(a) further allows any woman married to a Nigerian man to apply for citizenship by registration. However, the same route is not available to foreign men married to Nigerian women, who must undergo the more rigorous process of naturalisation.
