Our Reporter, Abuja
Rights advocate and legal scholar, Professor Joy Ezeilo (SAN), has reignited debate over gender-based discrimination in Nigeria’s citizenship laws, particularly as it affects women married to foreign nationals.
Reacting to comments made by British-Nigerian politician Kemi Badenoch, Ezeilo, a former United Nations Special Rapporteur and a prominent voice in Nigeria’s legal reform space, described the UK Minister’s critique of the Nigerian Constitution as valid—likening it to “a broken clock being right twice a day.”
At the heart of the controversy is Section 26(2)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which allows Nigerian men to confer citizenship by registration to their foreign wives but denies the same right to Nigerian women with foreign husbands.
“This provision exemplifies sex discrimination,” Ezeilo wrote in her widely shared post on X (formerly Twitter).
“It unfairly disadvantages Nigerian women with foreign spouses and contradicts the anti-discrimination provisions in Section 42 of the Constitution, as well as Nigeria’s commitments under international human rights treaties.”
The issue, often referred to as the “indigeneity problem,” not only marginalizes women in the context of marriage but also creates broader identity and citizenship crises, limiting national unity and development. In many Nigerian states, women are considered neither true indigenes of their place of birth nor their husbands’ states, compounding their political and social disenfranchisement.
Ezeilo emphasized that this discriminatory framework is not only unconstitutional but also archaic when compared with more inclusive citizenship practices in countries like the United States, where birthright citizenship prevails.
According to Ezeilo, despite previous efforts by the 9th National Assembly to amend the discriminatory provisions through constitutional review, the amendments failed to secure the required votes to pass. She said advocates are now turning their hopes to the 10th National Assembly to correct what they view as a historical injustice against Nigerian women.
“The Constitution must treat all citizens—regardless of gender—as equals,” Ezeilo urged.
