The leader of the UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has revealed that she is unable to confer Nigerian citizenship on her children due to gender-based restrictions in the country’s citizenship laws.
Speaking during an interview on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS on Sunday, Badenoch compared the United Kingdom’s immigration system with that of Nigeria, highlighting what she described as a disparity in how immigrants treat the two systems.
“It’s virtually impossible, for example, to get Nigerian citizenship,” she said. “I have that citizenship by virtue of my parents, I can’t give it to my children because I’m a woman.”
Badenoch used her personal experience to underscore a broader point about what she perceives as leniency in British immigration policies.
“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,” she added.
Her remarks have sparked conversations about gender inequality in citizenship rights, as well as renewed scrutiny of Nigeria’s nationality laws, which many critics say are outdated and discriminatory.
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