A foreign national simply known as Mr Andrew, who lives in Nigeria, has expressed sadness at his inability to secure citizenship despite being married to a Nigerian lady.
The man who has been living in the country for nearly five years has said that he will have to leave Nigeria in a few months’ time because his papers are set to be renewed.
The Building Engineer, who had married a Nigerian woman in July 2018, shared his experience via his Twitter account while challenging the law of the country that does not offer the same rights to non-Nigerian men seeking citizenship by registration.
“I may have to leave Nigeria for a few months because of the ludicrous rule that I can’t use my Wife’s nationality to become a citizen because she is a woman. But if I were a Nigerian male. Marrying her would give her the right to become a citizen here. Second-class women. And my contract is almost over and I’m going to need a new expatriate quota for my residence here,” he tweeted.
According to Nigeria’s constitution, a person can become a Nigerian citizen by registration if he or she is a woman married to a Nigerian man. Nevertheless, the clause does not apply to a non-Nigerian man married to a Nigerian woman.