INTRODUCTION
The general aphorism that “those who do not know where they are coming from
may not know where they are heading”, underscores the sole objective of this
paper.
As citizenship is derived from the concept of nationality, it is pertinent to note that
every State has the right to define who its nationals are1.
Accordingly, while nationality is a matter more readily considered under international law, citizenship serves for a domestic purpose2. Hence, for a State to be seen as a sovereign nation, it must show cause that it possesses a distinct geographical entity, a legitimate government and Citizens different from those of every other States.
Arising from the above, this paper shall confine itself to discussing the concept of citizenship within the provided perimeters of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended).
To achieve the above sole objective, it shall include as its contents: the meaning of citizen and citizenship, ways of acquiring citizenship, renunciation of citizenship, conditions for deprivation of citizenship and the exception thereof, persons deemed to be citizens of Nigeria, regulatory powers of the president in relation to citizenship, rights and duties of Nigerian citizens, as well as recommendation
"For a State to be seen as a sovereign nation, it must show cause that it possesses a distinct geographical entity, a legitimate government and Citizens different from those of every other States. ”
MEANING OF CITIZEN AND CITIZENSHIP
In view of the above, it suffices to opine that an individual is a citizen of a society, community or country if such an individual is also a national of that state, community or country. This is why the laws of each State specify those who are recognised as its Citizens5.
WAYS OF ACQUIRING NIGERIAN CITIZENSHIP
Accordingly, Chapter III of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria having exclusively and comprehensively provides for the concept of Citizenship, spanning from Section 25, 26, 27, 28, 29,30, 31, and 32, it is therefore fundamental to discuss the underlined factors embedded in all of the aforementioned methods of acquiring citizenship in Nigeria.
A. CITIZENSHIP BY BIRTH
Under Section 25(1) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigerian, the underlisted individuals are eligible for citizenship of Nigeria by birth. Hence, persons under this category are:
(a)Everyone born in Nigeria before the date of Independence, either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents belongs or belonged to a community indigenous to Nigeria, provided that a person shall not become a Nigerian citizen by birth if neither of his parents nor any of grandparents was born in Nigeria;
(b)Every person born in Nigeria after the date of independence either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents is a citizen of Nigeria; and
(c) Every person born outside Nigeria either of whose parents is a citizen of Nigeria.
Stemming from the foregoing, it is pertinent to state that an apt interpretation of the
date of independence mentioned in section 25 (1) (a) and (b) above is provided for
under sub-section (2) of the said section 25 which defines the date of independence
as 1
st October, 1960 having provides thus: “in this section, ‘the date of
Independence’ means the 1st day of October, 1960”.
Also worthy of consideration is the phrase “indigenous’ equally stressed in the
aforementioned subsection (1). Accordingly, it is apt to state that in Nigeria anyone
seeking to acquire the nation’s citizenship by birth, must as a matter of
constitutionally prerequisite have blood ties, and by the intention of the
constitution draftsmen either of such person’s parents or grandparents must belong
naturally to a community indigenous to a State in Nigeria8
. Hence, suffices that one
does not need to be born in Nigeria to have a Nigerian citizenship by birth; once your parents or grandparents are citizens of Nigeria, even if you were not born in
Nigeria, you are qualified to apply for citizenship by birth in Nigeria9
.
It follows therefore that section 25 (1) operates under the principles of “Jus
sanguinis”10. In this regard, a person’s citizenship is determined by his blood
relation with parents. Unlike other jurisdiction, the Nigerian citizenship by birth is
a combination of the Customary International Law Principles of “Jus Soli11
” and
“Jus sanguinis”; denoting the concurrency of parents blood relation and right of the
soil. It is the combination of these twin Latin Principles that gives rise to the “Dual
Citizenship” in many Country, which in the case of Nigeria is provided for under
section 28 (1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
(As Amended)12
.
As noted by eminent law scholars, a proper understanding of the interpretation of
Section 25 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria will involve a consideration of
notable judicial decisions13. In Shugaba Darman v. Ministry of Internal Affairs
and Others14, brief fact of it is that it was the applicant’s mother who was a Nigeria
of the Kanuri tribe; while the father was from Chad Republic. The court held that
the applicant was a Nigerian by birth and that his deportation from Nigeria was
unconstitutional15
. Another Nigerian judicial decision that was ruled in favour of
Mitigate
The mitigation phase is where you’ll look at how you can reduce the harm to those who have been affected by the breach. For instance, if the breach involved a leak of financial information, it might mean offering free credit monitoring for a year or two.
Notify
In Canada, you’re required to report privacy breaches or data security incidents that cross a certain threshold—what is known in the legal world as real risk of significant harm. IT professionals, lawyers, and privacy regulators (find details at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada) can help you determine what that threshold is.
Canada’s privacy law (the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, or PIPEDA) specifies that a breach report should be made as soon as feasible, as in—as soon as you get a grip on what happened. You can and should update your reporting as more details come in.
Andrew points to the case of Ashley Madison, a Canadian dating site for those who are married or coupled. It faced a significant security breach in 2015, with user data released to the public by hackers causing significant harm to individuals families and reputation. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada did a thorough investigation and its report, Andrew says, serves as an example of what is expected in terms of protecting privacy and data security.
3. Practice your incident response plan
Your incident response plan should not be a document that sits in a drawer and collects dust. Practice it, update it, and know it well, so you’re ready to put it into action as soon as you need to.
4. Protect the data you’re entrusted with
If you’re a board member, you may be privy to confidential company information. Andrew suggests seeking resources that provide guidance for boards, such as Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI).
5. Understand the threats
Ransomware is software that essentially holds your data hostage until you pay a sum to retrieve it. Still, there’s no guarantee paying that sum will get your data back.
The best thing you can do is to have a data backup and a disaster recovery system ready so you can bring your data back immediately. With ransomware attacks expected to increase by 100 per cent in 2022, it’s important to know how to react should one happen.
6. Train staff
Andrew tells of an email he received from a regular client that read, “Here’s the report you asked for.” He hadn’t requested a report, so he responded to see if the email was legit. The client assured him it was. Andrew then forwarded the email to his company’s IT department and confirmed it was spam. Threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Andrew recommends training staff on how to identify threats, using different passwords for different applications, and picking up the phone if there’s uncertainty over an email. Two-factor authentication can weed out threats like the one Andrew experienced.
1 Odimma, J. (2004). Comprehensive Citizenship Education, Owerri: Global Press Ltd.
2 Nwabueze, B.O. (1993). Ideas and facts in Constitution making, Ibadan: Spectrum Books Limited.
3 Garner, B. A. (2009). Black’s Law Dictionary, 9th edn., St. Paul M. N. Thomas Reuters, p.278.
