Nigerian nationality law
Constitution of Nigeria, Chapter III: Citizenship | |
---|---|
Parliament of Nigeria | |
Enacted by | President of Nigeria |
Status: Current legislation |
Nigerian nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Nigeria, as amended, and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory.[1][2] These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of Nigeria.[3] The legal means to acquire nationality, formal legal membership in a nation, differ from the domestic relationship of rights and obligations between a national and the nation, known as citizenship. Nationality describes the relationship of an individual to the state under international law, whereas citizenship is the domestic relationship of an individual within the nation.[4][5] Commonwealth countries often use the terms nationality and citizenship as synonyms, despite their legal distinction and the fact that they are regulated by different governmental administrative bodies.[4] Nigerian nationality is typically obtained under the principal of jus sanguinis, i.e. by birth to parents with Nigerian nationality.[6] It can be granted to persons with an affiliation to the country, or to a permanent resident who has lived in the country for a given period of time through naturalisation.[7]
As Commonwealth citizens, Nigerians are eligible to vote in UK elections and serve in public office there.
Acquiring Nigerian nationality
Nationality can be obtained in Nigeria at birth or later in life through naturalisation.[3][8]
By birth
Typically, in Nigeria, there are no provisions to acquire nationality through jus soli, i.e. by birth in the territory, which means that foundlings or orphans whose parents are unknown are stateless.[9] Those who are eligible for nationality by birth include:
- Persons born anywhere whose parents are Nigerian nationals; or[10]
- Persons born in Nigeria who have at least one grandparent who was Nigerian, or belonged to an indigenous community of Nigeria prior to independence.[11]
By naturalisation
Loss of nationality
Nigerians are allowed to renounce their nationality, provided that comply with registration processes. The government may oppose during times of war.[16] Nationals of origin cannot be deprived of their nationality.[17] Naturalised persons can be denaturalised for working for another nation without governmental consent, or for committing serious crimes, disloyal acts, or crimes against the state or state security.[18]
Dual nationality
Nigeria allows dual nationality for most persons, but does not allow persons who have been naturalised in another country to naturalise as a Nigerian. Nationals of origin in Nigeria or another country are allowed to naturalise without renouncing other nationality.[19] Members of the government — like the president, governor, or state and national legislators — may not have dual nationality.[20]
History
African people and European contact (1000–1861)
In the northern part of the area now known as Nigeria many
In 1472, Portuguese traders visited the Benin Empire and
In 1830, the course of the Lower Niger was traced.[29] Anglican missionaries arrived in the area in 1841, Methodist missionaries began establishing missions around Badagry in 1842, and these were soon followed by Baptist missions.[30] In 1849, Heinrich Barth, a German explorer from Hamburg, as part of an official British expedition led by James Richardson was sent to the region to explore the possibilities for trade.[27] Barth trekked through the Kanem–Bornu Empire and reported that wars between the Bornu and Sokoto Empires had reduced the area into anarchy.[31] He explored along the Middle Niger through 1855, reporting intact trade networks, but noted that internal strife and external attacks made the political structures vulnerable.[32] As he made his way along the Upper Niger to Timbuktu, Barth noted that commerce networks were intact, but there was political unrest and uncertainty due largely to the aftermath of the Fula jihads.[33] Britain purchased the Danish trading forts in West Africa in 1850 and the following year, established a diplomatic outpost at Lagos.[24][34]
Throughout the 1850s, there was increasing competition between the British, French, and German nations to control West Africa.[28] By 1857 Britain claimed to control the entire Gambia River, which implied the government's responsibility to protect the inhabitants of the region. In 1859, the British government clarified its position that foreign traders living in their colonies were afforded the same protections as British subjects, even when trading outside of its area of territorial control.[35] Along the Niger, British policy was changing as well, from the idea of an informal empire toward colonial administration.[36] In an attempt to provide a framework to develop and protect British trade, the British became involved in a dispute over succession in the Lagos royal family[37] and similarly to check French influence and expansion from Dahomey, discussions began regarding establishment of a protectorate over Lagos.[38] From 1860, war among the Yoruba states began impacting the growth of commerce from Lagos, prompting deeper consideration of establishing colonial control.[39]
British period (1861–1960)
Britain annexed Lagos as the
Reluctant to bear the cost of administrating the territory, in 1886, the government reauthorised the National African Company, now called the Royal Niger Company, to manage the territory in exchange for a trade monopoly.[21] In 1893 the Oil River Protectorate was renamed as the Niger Coast Protectorate. The Royal Niger Company charter was revoked in 1900 and the territories which it had administrated were combined to form the Northern Nigeria Protectorate.[40] Territories to the south of this protectorate, including the Niger Coast Protectorate, were consolidated at the same time and named the Southern Nigeria Protectorate.[49] In 1906, the Lagos Colony and the Southern Protectorate were combined into a single administrative unit and in 1914, the Northern protectorate was incorporated as well. The new name for Colonial Nigeria became the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria at that time.[49]
In Britain, allegiance, in which subjects pledged to support a monarch, was the precursor to the modern concept of nationality.[50] The crown recognized from 1350 that all persons born within the territories of the British Empire were subjects.[51] Those born outside the realm — except children of those serving in an official post abroad, children of the monarch, and children born on a British ship — were considered by common law to be foreigners.[52] Marriage did not affect the status of a subject of the realm,[53] but under common law, single women, including divorcées, were not allowed to be parents thus their children could not derive nationality maternally and were stateless unless legitimated by their father.[54][53] British Nationality Acts did not extend beyond the bounds of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, meaning that under Britain's rules of conquest, laws in place at the time of acquisition remained in place until changed.[55][51] Other than common law, there was no standard statutory law which applied for subjects throughout the realm, meaning different jurisdictions created their own legislation for local conditions, which often conflicted with the laws in other jurisdictions in the empire. Thus, a person who was naturalised in Canada, for example, would be considered a foreigner, rather than a British national, in Australia or South Africa.[56] In Nigeria, those who inhabited Lagos, were considered British subjects, while those who lived in the protectorates were granted the status of British Protected Persons (BPP).[57]
Persons in the Nigeria Colony and British-born subjects living in the Protectorate of Nigeria (1914–1960)
In 1911, at the
Amendments to the British Nationality Act were enacted in 1918, 1922, 1933 and 1943 changing derivative nationality by descent and modifying slightly provisions for women to lose their nationality upon marriage.[66] Because of a rise in statelessness, a woman who did not automatically acquire her husband's nationality upon marriage or upon his naturalisation in another country, did not lose their British status after 1933.[67] The 1943 revision allowed a child born abroad at any time to be a British national by descent if the Secretary of State agreed to register the birth.[67] Under the terms of the British Nationality Act 1948 British nationals in the Nigeria Colony were reclassified at that time as "Citizens of the UK and Colonies" (CUKC).[68] The basic British nationality scheme did not change overmuch, and typically those who were previously defined as British remained the same. Changes included that wives and children no longer automatically acquired the status of the husband or father, children who acquired nationality by descent no longer were required to make a retention declaration, and registrations for children born abroad were extended.[69]
Indigenous persons (British Protected Persons) in the Nigeria Protectorate (1914–1960)
British protectorates, in 1914, were considered to be foreign territories lacking an internal government.[70][71] When Britain extended this status over a territory, it took responsibility for both internal and external administration, including defense and foreign relations. Indigenous persons who were born in a protectorate were known as British Protected Persons and were not entitled to be British nationals.[70] BPPs had no right of return to the United Kingdom and were unable to exercise rights of citizenship; however, they could be issued a passport and could access diplomatic services when traveling abroad.[72] In 1914, the Alien Restriction Act clarified that while BPPs were not nationals, neither were they aliens.[73][71] When the law was amended in 1919, that provision remained the same, meaning that BPPs could not naturalise.[74][75] Until 1934, when the British Protected Persons Order was drafted, the status of BPP was not statutory, but rather granted at the prerogative of the monarch.[70] Under the 1934 Order, Belonger status with regard to protected territories was defined to mean persons born before or after the Order in a protectorate who possessed no nationality and were not a British subject, or persons born abroad to a native of a protectorate who were stateless and not British subjects.[76] The statute extended BPP status to children and wives of BPPs, if they were stateless, and specifically provided that if a woman married someone who was a national of another nation, she lost her BPP status.[77]
In 1943, the British Nationality Act clarified that BPPs born abroad in territories that were within the Crown's dominions were British subjects by virtue of jus soli, but those born within a protectorate were not subjects.[78] Under the terms of the British Nationality Act 1948, BPPs of the Nigeria Protectorate status did not change.[68] However, the Act, while retaining the provisions that BPPs were not aliens and could not naturalise, allowed BPPs to register as BPP of a protected place or as a British subject under certain conditions.[74][79] In 1949, the British Protectorates, Protected States and Protected Persons Order in Council repealed former orders about BPPs and detailed provisions for conferring protected status.[80] It provided that protected persons were BPPs of a protectorate if they were born there; if they were born abroad to a father who was a native of a protectorate; or if at the time of their birth their father was a BPP. It also allowed women married to BPPs to register as a BPP and allowed certain nationals of foreign countries to register as BPPs.[81] Minor changes to protected persons' status were made by Orders of Council in 1952, 1953, 1958, 1960, 1961, and 1962, but major changes did not occur until 1965.[82]
Post-independence (1960–present)
Nigeria gained its independence on 1 October 1960, meaning that those who acquired Nigerian nationality on that date, ceased to be British. On that day, under the terms of the Independence Constitution, persons who had been born in either the colony or protectorate to a parent or grandparent who was also born in the colony or protectorate were conferred Nigerian nationality. It was also conferred on persons who had been born outside of Nigeria if their father had been born in either the colony or protectorate and was at independence a CUKC or BPP, or at his death if he died prior to independence.[68][83] Persons who had been naturalised, persons born in the territory to parents who were not born there, and women who had acquired nationality through marriage to a Nigerian prior to independence did not lose their status as a CUKC or BPP.[84] While they were not conferred Nigerian nationality, they were provided an opportunity to register as Nigerian until 1 October 1962.[83][85] After independence, those who were born after independence could acquire nationality through birth in the country, as long as their parent(s) did not have diplomatic immunity and their father was not an enemy alien, or if born abroad, as long as their father was Nigerian and born in the territory.[83][86] Those who did not qualify for acquisition by birth, could apply for naturalisation.[83] Dual nationality was forbidden except in the case of a child who had double status from birth. Upon attaining legal majority, and prior to the age of twenty-two, such a child was required to renounce their other nationality or cease to be Nigerian[87]
Subsequently the Citizenship Act of 1960 was passed specifying criteria and procedures for acquiring nationality through naturalisation and registration.[88] Under a plebiscite held on 11 February 1961, the inhabitants of southern British Cameroon, voted to join an independent French Cameroon by a margin of 7 to 3.[89][90] The inhabitants of the northern part of British Cameroon voted to become part of Nigeria on 1 June 1961. By the Northern Cameroons Administration Amendment Order of Council 1961/988 and an amendment Act (Law 24) to the Nigerian Constitution, Northern Cameroon was incorporated into the Federal Republic of Nigeria.[91] Under the terms of the constitutional amendment, persons who were CUKCs or BPPs born in Northern Cameroon or the wife of a person meeting the criteria effectively became Nigerian nationals.[92][Notes 1] In 1963, the constitution was changed to create the Nigerian republic, but no significant changes were made to the regulations for nationality.[94]
In 1974, the military government which had ruled Nigeria since a 1966 coup d'état repealed the Citizenship Act and constitutional provisions related to the automatic acquisition of nationality. Acquisition at birth was changed to automatic granting of nationality only if a child was born in the country to at least one parent was born or naturalised/registered in Nigeria, or if a child was born abroad and both parents were Nigerian nationals.[94][Notes 2] Military rule ended and a new civilian regime was elected in 1979. Under the 1979 Constitution, which created a presidential government based on the United States model, nationality was acquired by descent from someone who was part of an indigenous community of Nigeria;[96] however, it did not clearly define what communities were considered indigenous or how indigenity was determined.[97] It provided that those born in the territory prior to independence were Nigerian, if one of their parents or grandparents had also been born in Nigeria. Those born in Nigeria after independence automatically acquired nationality by descent from a parent or grandparent who was a Nigerian national and those born abroad automatically acquired nationality by descent from a Nigerian parent. The 1979 Constitution also specified that those who had formerly obtained nationality under previous legislation remained Nigerian.[96]
In 1999, a new constitution was adopted after a second military regime ended. The nationality scheme did not change other than to allow dual nationality only for Nigerians of origin.[98] Human rights monitoring organisations of international agreements like the 1999 African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 1961 have noted that the 1999 Constitution makes no provision for foundings or orphans with unknown parentage discovered in Nigeria or adoptees to acquire nationality. Though Nigeria passed the Child Rights Act in 2003, which guarantees adopted children the same legal rights as a biological child, the statute makes no mention of nationality.[99] Universal Periodic Reviews have also noted that the 1999 Constitution retains gender discrimination which is prohibited under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in that while foreign wives can acquire Nigerian nationality by registration upon marriage, foreign husbands can only acquire nationality through naturalisation.[99][100]
Notes
- ^ The native inhabitants of southern British Cameroon remained BPPs under the United Nations trust agreement until 1 October 1961.[93] As the British trusteeship was a single territory, those inhabitants of the northern British Cameroons became Nigerian in June, but did not cease to be BPPs until 1 October when the trusteeship ceased to exist.[93]
- ^ The 1974 constitution, according to Bronwen Manby, a scholar on African nationality laws, did not contain language preserving the status of those who had previously acquired Nigerian nationality and it was unclear if the new provision was supposed to be retroactive.[94] Manby also notes that after the repeal of the Citizenship Act, in 1974, it was never replaced.[95]
References
Citations
- ^ Manby 2016, pp. 32–34, 36, 135.
- ^ Manby & Momoh 2020, pp. 6, 22.
- ^ a b Manby 2016, pp. 6–7.
- ^ a b Fransman 2011, p. 4.
- ^ Rosas 1994, p. 34.
- ^ Manby 2016, pp. 51, 55.
- ^ a b Manby 2016, p. 92.
- ^ Manby & Momoh 2020, p. 1.
- ^ Manby 2016, pp. 5, 50.
- ^ Manby 2016, p. 55.
- ^ Manby 2016, pp. 55, 61.
- ^ a b Manby 2016, p. 93.
- ^ a b Manby 2016, p. 85.
- ^ Manby 2016, p. 57.
- ^ Manby 2016, p. 67.
- ^ Manby 2016, p. 114.
- ^ Manby 2016, p. 104.
- ^ Manby 2016, p. 110.
- ^ Manby 2016, p. 74.
- ^ Manby 2016, p. 79.
- ^ a b c d e f Ndibe 2010.
- ^ a b c d e Judd 2008.
- ^ Strayer 2011, p. 696.
- ^ a b c Falola, Genova & Heaton 2018, p. xxiii.
- ^ Hargreaves 1963, p. 8.
- ^ a b Fafunwa 2018, p. 74.
- ^ a b Hargreaves 1963, p. 4.
- ^ a b Falola, Genova & Heaton 2018, p. 6.
- ^ Hargreaves 1963, p. 34.
- ^ Falola, Genova & Heaton 2018, pp. xxiii, 6.
- ^ Hargreaves 1963, pp. 4, 7.
- ^ Hargreaves 1963, p. 35.
- ^ Hargreaves 1963, pp. 8–9.
- ^ Hargreaves 1963, p. 62.
- ^ Hargreaves 1963, pp. 50–51.
- ^ Hargreaves 1963, p. 53.
- ^ Hargreaves 1963, p. 54.
- ^ Hargreaves 1963, p. 56.
- ^ Hargreaves 1963, pp. 57–58.
- ^ a b c Fransman 2011, p. 1147.
- ^ Falola, Genova & Heaton 2018, p. xxiv.
- ^ Hargreaves 1963, pp. 59–61.
- ^ Hargreaves 1963, p. 61.
- ^ Geary 1965, pp. 35, 37.
- ^ Geary 1965, pp. 170, 174.
- ^ Geary 1965, p. 175.
- ^ Anene 1959, p. 254.
- ^ Hargreaves 1963, p. 336.
- ^ a b Fransman 2011, p. 1148.
- ^ Fransman 2011, p. 129.
- ^ a b Fransman 2011, p. 130.
- ^ Fransman 2011, p. 131.
- ^ a b Baldwin 2001, p. 525.
- ^ Fransman 2011, p. 138.
- ^ Glenn 2008, p. 4.
- ^ Baldwin 2001, p. 526.
- ^ Manby & Momoh 2020, p. 2.
- ^ Fransman 2011, p. 145.
- ^ a b Baldwin 2001, p. 527.
- ^ Fransman 2011, p. 148.
- ^ Fransman 2011, pp. 150–151.
- ^ Llewellyn-Jones 1929, p. 123.
- ^ Fransman 2011, p. 151.
- ^ Baldwin 2001, p. 528.
- ^ Fransman 2011, p. 155.
- ^ Fransman 2011, p. 149.
- ^ a b Fransman 2011, p. 163.
- ^ a b c Fransman 2011, p. 1149.
- ^ Fransman 2011, pp. 175–176.
- ^ a b c Fransman 2011, p. 69.
- ^ a b Polack 1963, p. 144.
- ^ Bierbach 2015, p. 264.
- ^ Sawyer & Wray 2014, p. 12.
- ^ a b Mwalimu 2005, p. 252.
- ^ Tagupa 1994, p. 34.
- ^ Fransman 2011, p. 1778.
- ^ Fransman 2011, p. 1779.
- ^ Dummett 2006, p. 561.
- ^ Fransman 2011, p. 174.
- ^ Fransman 2011, pp. 174, 1781.
- ^ Fransman 2011, p. 1781.
- ^ Fransman 2011, pp. 1783–1785.
- ^ a b c d Manby & Momoh 2020, p. 3.
- ^ Fransman 2011, p. 1150.
- ^ Fransman 2011, p. 1156.
- ^ Fransman 2011, p. 1157.
- ^ Fransman 2011, p. 1158.
- ^ Manby & Momoh 2020, pp. 3–4.
- ^ Enonchong 2021, p. 17.
- ^ DeLancey 1989, p. 43.
- ^ Fransman 2011, pp. 1150–1151.
- ^ Fransman 2011, p. 1160.
- ^ a b Fransman 2011, p. 1151.
- ^ a b c Manby & Momoh 2020, p. 4.
- ^ Manby & Momoh 2020, p. 6.
- ^ a b Manby & Momoh 2020, p. 5.
- ^ Manby & Momoh 2020, pp. 7–8.
- ^ Manby & Momoh 2020, pp. 5, 9.
- ^ a b Manby & Momoh 2020, p. 7.
- ^ Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review 2018, p. 6.
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