Report on Citizenship Law: Nigeria provides for acquisition of citizenship through registration (based on marriage or through a grandparent), and naturalisation (based on long residence), and for automatic transmission to the children of citizens. In practice, the Ministry of Interior has questioned the right to citizenship of the children of naturalised citizens. This paper sets out the history of Nigerian citizenship law since the colonial era and the current provisions in force. It then describes the institutions responsible for implementing and interpreting the citizenship provisions of the 1999 constitution. Finally, it outlines the most important current controversies surrounding citizenship – in particular the concept of ‘indigeneity’ and the definition of ‘community indigenous to Nigeria’. 2. History of Citizenship Law in Nigeria 2.1 Pre-colonial and colonial period Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, the territory of present-day Nigeria was made up of many different political entities. They included the Yoruba kingdoms of today’s south-west Nigeria, the Hausa-Fulani cities and emirates of the north, the Nupe kingdom centred on the Niger River, the Edo (later Benin) kingdom in the south, and other numerous small states, as well as non-centralised communities such as the Igbo society of today’s south-east Nigeria. These different polities operated with a variety of political structures and concepts of nationhood.4 Prior to the advent of British colonialism in Nigeria, there were no formal citizenship laws applicable to the territories now comprising Nigeria. British law first became applicable to part of the territory that is now Nigeria in 1861 when, by treaty, the island and territory of Lagos were ceded to the British Crown, with the status of ‘colony’ in British law. The inhabitants of Lagos became ‘British subjects’. In the 1880s, British influence expanded, and British control over most of the territory within the current borders of Nigeria was recognised by the Berlin Conference of 1884-85. By the end of the 19th century the territory was divided into two protectorates, of northern and southern Nigeria, whose residents had the status of ‘British protected persons’. The political entity that is modern Nigeria was created on 1 January 1914, through the unification of the Northern and Southern Protectorates and the Nigeria Colony, which were then referred to collectively as the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria.5 The inhabitants of the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria retained their former status in British law as British subjects (if born in the colony) or British protected persons (if born in the protectorate). In theory, a British subject born in Lagos or any other colony had the same status as one born in Britain; in practice, the status was differentiated throughout the British empire, with each colony deciding its own laws that frequently discriminated on racial grounds. 4 Ubaku, Kelechi Chik et al, ‘Impact of Nationalist Movement on the Actualization of Nigerian Independence’, 1914-1960. International Journal of History and Philosophical Research Vol.2, No.1, pp54-67 at p. 54, March 2014 5 Emmanuel Oladipo Ojo, Nigeria, 1914-2014: From Creation to Cremation? Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, Vol. 23 (2014), pp. 67-91 at p.67.; Paul Eric, The Amalgamation of Nigeria: Revisiting 1914 and the Centenary Celebrations. Canadian Social Science (Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture) Vol. 12, No. 12, 2016, pp. 66-68 at 66. See also, Ikelegbe, A. Politics and government: An introductory and comparative analysis, (1995). Uri Publishers, Benin City Edo State, Nigeria. 2 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/12- © 2020 Author(s)