By Adenike Lawal
UK Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch, has criticised Nigeria’s citizenship law, saying she cannot confer Nigerian nationality on her children because she is a woman.
Speaking on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, Badenoch compared the UK’s lenient immigration system with Nigeria’s stricter stance.
She said it was unfair that many Nigerians can easily gain British citizenship while Nigerian law makes it “practically impossible” for women to pass on citizenship to children born abroad.
“Nigerians wouldn’t tolerate this kind of thing in their own country,” she said, opposing the idea of migrants forming “mini-Nigerias” in the UK.
Badenoch, who has three children with her Scottish husband, said the UK must tighten its naturalization process.
However, her claim sparked controversy, as Section 25(1)(c) of the Nigerian Constitution allows either parent to confer citizenship on a child born outside Nigeria.
Born in the UK in 1980 to Nigerian parents, Badenoch spent part of her childhood in Nigeria and returned to the UK at 16.
She has served under Prime Ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak and is known for her hardline immigration views.
