Kemi Badenoch, leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, has stated that obtaining British citizenship will become more difficult for Nigerians and other immigrants under her leadership.
In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Badenoch criticized what she described as the ease with which Nigerians currently acquire British citizenship, suggesting that the system is being exploited. “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,” she said.
“That is why under my leadership, we now have policies to make it harder to just get British citizenship. It has been too easy.”
Badenoch argued that lax immigration laws have made the UK vulnerable, claiming some immigrants take advantage of Britain’s generosity in ways that would be unacceptable in their own countries.
When asked whether she supports the idea of immigrants creating “mini-Nigeria” in the UK to preserve their cultural identity, Badenoch firmly disagreed: “That is not right. Nigerians would not tolerate that. That’s not something that many countries would accept.”
“There are many people who come to our country, to the UK, who do things that would not be acceptable in their countries,” she added.
Badenoch, who was born in London in 1980 to Nigerian parents and spent part of her childhood in Nigeria, is a Leader of the conservative party and has long been vocal about immigration reform.
Her comments have sparked heated debate, particularly among diaspora Nigerians and pro-immigration advocates who argue that her stance is both ironic and exclusionary, given her Nigerian roots.
