Bronwen Manby and Solomon Momoh Report on Citizenship Law Nigeria* Bronwen Manby2 and Solomon Oseghale Momoh3 1. Introduction Nigeria is one of the few countries in the world that creates an explicitly ethnic basis for its citizenship law. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which provides the framework for acquisition and loss of citizenship, relies heavily on the idea of membership of a ‘community indigenous to Nigeria’ as the primary determinant of entitlement to citizenship. There is no definition of this term in the constitution, and the rules on acquisition and loss of citizenship are provided only in the constitution, without any detail established by legislation or regulation. Nigerian citizenship was first defined with the adoption of the 1960 Independence Constitution. Transitional provisions established the conditions for acquisition of citizenship by those already living in Nigeria, and a ius soli regime going forward, so that any person born in Nigeria after independence automatically became a citizen at birth. Additional detail on acquisition of citizenship by registration (on application, provided certain conditions were fulfilled) and naturalisation (discretionary grant based on long residence) was provided in a Citizenship Act, amended in 1961. Since the 1960 Constitution, the most important reforms to the provisions on citizenship were enacted in 1974 and in 1979. The 1974 amendments established a modified double ius soli regime for acquisition at birth, so that a child born in Nigeria would be automatically attributed citizenship at birth only if one parent or grandparent was also born there. The 1960 and 1961 Citizenship Acts were also repealed. Chapter III of the 1979 Constitution introduced an ethnic dimension to Nigerian citizenship for the first time, moving away from rights based on birth in the territory towards a rule based on descent and membership of a ‘community indigenous to Nigeria’. The citizenship regime introduced by the 1979 Constitution is still largely retained in the current 1999 Constitution. The constitution * This report has benefitted from academic exchange with and country expertise from the UNHCR Nigeria. Views expressed in this report reflect the opinion of individual authors and not those of the UNHCR. 2 Bronwen Manby is a senior policy fellow at the London School of Economics, and a consultant in the field of nationality and statelessness. This report draws on her book Citizenship in Africa: The Law of Belonging, Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2018. 3 Solomon Oseghale Momoh is a PhD Researcher at Utrecht University Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance. This report also draws on his presentation ‘Statelessness and Right to Nationality: Avoiding the Uncertainties Under the Nigerian Constitution’. Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance, Utrecht University (6 June 2019). RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/12 - © 2020 Author(s) 1