NOW HEAR THIS Nigerians all over the world. ” What a WICKED world. “
‘We need to stop being naive’: Kemi Badenoch vows to make it harder for Nigerians to get UK citizenship
Leader of the UK Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has vowed to make it harder for Nigerians and others to get British citizenship.
Badenoch spoke on Sunday in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria while trying to contrast the immigration policies of Nigeria and Britain.
She told CNN that immigrants often exploit the British system, leaving the UK vulnerable to threats.
Asked if she would allow Nigerian immigrants to establish “mini-Nigerias” in the UK as a form of cultural integration, she responded firmly: “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 countries.”
To further her point, Badenoch cited her own experience as a British-born woman of Nigerian descent. She claimed that while she holds Nigerian citizenship through her parents, she is unable to pass it to her children due to her gender.
“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.
“Yet loads of Nigerians come to the UK and stay for a relatively free period of time, acquiring British citizenship. We need to stop being naive. That’s why under my leadership we now have policies to make it a lot harder to get British citizenship.”
Badenoch has three children with her husband.
Contrary to Badenoch’s claim, section 25(1)(c) of the Nigerian Constitution states that a person born outside the country is a citizen of Nigeria if either of their parents is Nigerian.
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This means having just one Nigerian parent is sufficient for citizenship by birth.
Born in the UK in 1980 to Nigerian Yoruba parents, Olukemi Adegoke spent much of her childhood in Nigeria before returning to the UK at age 16.
She later married Hamish Badenoch, a Scottish banker, and adopted his surname, becoming Kemi Badenoch.
Before becoming the Conservative leader, she previously worked in the cabinet for prime ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak from 2022 to 2024.
Since she became the leader of the UK Conservative Party, Badenoch has maintained a critical stance against immigrants from Nigeria and other countries.
In January, Badenoch, said that she was seeking harder immigration policies because she didn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria, which she described as a poor country where a terrible government destroys lives.
She had also said that the UK cannot be like a hotel that accepts everyone.
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