19naia:
You need a parent or grand parent who is Nigerian by birth and ancestry. It doesnt matter if you were born in nigeria or not.

Also, The president or top leadership of Nigeria can grant you Citizenship out of their own hospitality and it doesnt always have to include your knowledge of the language and cultures. But it does require your respect for Nigeria (btw-Many born and raised Nigerians try hard to respect nigeria and they fail, not easy).

The immigration and passport issue department is directly under the top leadership of Nigeria and if they grant you a passport in what most people are calling substandard ways, just remember there is a law that allows the top leadership of Nigeria to grant you or anybody a passport. The passport office is working on behalf of the top leadership of the nation and any citizenship they grant, is within their right to do so.
The passport bears the seal of the state of Nigeria under the authority of its highest leadership. That means the highest authority in the matter for Nigeria, granted it to you as they have the right to grant to any one they like.
The only legal matter in the issue is that you use your legal name, date and place of birth,and get an authentic passport from the legal appointed issuer for nigerian passport.

Another way to help your cause is to visit Nigeria and find a local government area willing to officially claim you. If you trace your heritage back to a family in Nigeria, then find that family local government area and petition for a letter from them claiming you as one of their own and granting you identification card. Get a Guarantors form and find a guarantor in the local government area and then go to the Passport office after applying for the passport, and go with enough money to pay the required fees.
If you are not willing to visit Nigeria and do they LGA and guarantor part, then you dont need a Nigerian passport anyway.
Go visit with your US passport with NG tourist/visitor visa and it will all work out unless you come to other senses and realize you never want to try and be in nor of Nigeria again. Plenty born and raised Nigerians who dont want to be in and of Nigeria ever again.

Naia, good ideas here. I really need to see about tracing my line even further to locate any living family members in Nigeria.

Hey guys,


Thank you for your thoughtful responses! You guys definitely gave me some things to mull over. I did a quick google search and

found this website about Nigeria's Citizenship laws and constitution: http://www.nigeria-law.org/ConstitutionOfTheFederalRepublicOfNigeria.htm


In chapter III of this document, it lists the qualifications needed for

someone to become eligible for Nigerian citizenship by descent:

"25. (1) The following persons are citizens of Nigeria by birth-namely-
(a) every person 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 citizen of Nigeria by virtue of

this section if neither of his parents nor any of his 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."

source: http://www.nigeria-law.org/ConstitutionOfTheFederalRepublicOfNigeria.htm#Chapter_3

I know legal-speak can be kind of hard to understand but if I'm reading

this correctly then I am actually eligible for citizenship because it says

"or any of whose grandparents belongs or belonged to a community

indigenous to Nigeria." Perhaps my great great x?? maternal grandmother

and paternal grandfather qualify me for this? Technically they were from an indiginous community in present day Nigeria and were born waaay before the 1960s.

@OP: Let's twist the table a bit. If I did the same test, and my

genetic make-up shows a large part of my ancestry is traceable to France;

am I eligible to claim french citizenship?! No chance of that happening.

Not a chance because France's citizenship laws by descent are more strict

than Nigeria's. At least one of your parents has to be French to qualify

for citizenship, and one's grandparents aren't even considered.

Coincidentally, I do speak french! So I was able to find a nice government

website to verify that info--en français of course. You can use a

translator if you want: http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/services-aux-citoyens/etat-civil-et-nationalite-francaise/nationalite-francaise/


Also, I'm assuming you're of African descent so that scenario wouldn't be

plausible because it would assume that a large percentage of your ancestry

would be European in origin. Being African American, odds are that at least 70% of my ancestry is African, so we'd be in the ballpark.The test I took was not an ancestry percentage test either but a maternal & paternal lineage test which traces your genetic makeup back to specific groups of people. Meaning it traced my

father, my grandfather, great grand father, etc back to Nigeria and did

the same with my mother, so that is more like a linear descent directly from nigera going back many years.

these "back to America" movement people who are trying to claim Nigerian Americans of Nigerian parentage, are not Nigerian, e ma je ki epe ko mo yin o.

Adura ni kie ma gba fun ara yin.

Hey tpiander, can you explain this "back to America" movement for me in more detail? I've never heard of it and I'd like to know a bit more about it.


I'm gonna give it a shot. I have the scientific evidence to back me up so I won't be pulling this out of thin air. The best I can do is apply for citizenship, state my case, and let it ride. If it's meant to be it'll be but in any case I'm really grateful to fill in those gaps in my family history and trace it back to Naija.

Hey everyone out there in Nairaland, I have a question: Can an African American with Nigerian ancestry gain Nigerian citizenship? I traced my ancestry several months ago and discovered my paternal and maternal genetic ancestry traced back to Nigeria. My fathers line being a 100% match for the Hausa ethnic group and my mothers line being a 100% match for Yoruba/Hausa ethnicities. My father is African American and my mother is from Barbados so I already have American/Bajan citizenship. However, due to slavery and all the events that came along with that years ago, all of my family's ties to Nigeria have been severed forcefully. I just want to be the one to re-establish the relationship. Could I be eligible for Nigerian citizenship because of my ancestors?


Thanks in advance guys