Kemi Badenoch, leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, has said that she is unable to transfer her Nigerian citizenship to her children due to her gender.
Gatekeepers News reports that Badenoch made the statement while speaking on Sunday during an interview with Fareed Zakaria on CNN.
Badenoch compared Nigeria’s and Britain’s immigration and citizenship policies, highlighting what she described as a stark imbalance.
The Conservative leader argued that while many Nigerians find it relatively easy to gain British citizenship, the reverse is untrue, particularly in her own case.
She said, “ 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.”
Badenoch, who has three children with her husband, Scottish banker Hamish Badenoch, expressed concern over leniency in the UK’s immigration system.
She said, “ 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.”
When asked if she would support Nigerian immigrants recreating a “mini-Nigeria” in the UK as part of cultural integration, she responded saying no that Nigerians wouldn’t tolerate it.
Badenoch, born in London in 1980 to Nigerian Yoruba parents, spent her early years in Nigeria before returning to UK at 16.
She has served under former Prime Ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak and is known for her conservative views on migration and cultural assimilation.
However, her claim about Nigerian citizenship laws has been met with criticism. Section 25(1)(c) of the Nigerian Constitution clearly states that a person born outside Nigeria is entitled to citizenship if either parent is Nigerian, regardless of gender.
This means her children could legally claim Nigerian citizenship through her, contrary to her assertion.
