Leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch has sparked controversy after claiming she cannot pass Nigerian citizenship to her children due to gender, while criticizing the UK’s overly lenient immigration policies.
Badenoch made the claims in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, July 20, as she discussed UK immigration policies and the differences between Britain and countries like Nigeria, arguing that many immigrants exploit the British system in ways that would not be tolerated in their own countries.
When asked If she would permit a Nigerian immigrant to create a “mini-Nigeria” in UK for cultural integration, her response was a swift “no”.
“That is not right. Nigerians would not tolerate that. That’s not something that many countries would accept”, she said”
“There are many people who come to our country, to the UK, who do things that would not be acceptable in their own countries”
Using her children’s alleged inability to get Nigerian citizenship to illustrate the stark contrast between Nigeria’s approach and that of the UK, she said: “It is 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”
Contrary to Badenoch’s claim, Section 25 (1) (C) of the Nigerian Constitution states that Any person born outside the country is a citizen of Nigeria if either parents is Nigerian.
This means having just one Nigerian parent is sufficient for citizenship by birth.
Badenoch, known for her tough stance on immigration, reiterated in the interview that If elected Prime Minister, she would make it “a lot harder for immigrants to obtain British citizenship
Born in the 1980 in the UK to a Nigerian Yoruba parents, spent part of her childhood in Nigeria before returning to the UK at the age of 16.
She is married to Hamish Badenoch, a Scottish banker, and the couple has three children.
