iiG Briefing Paper 22. Attitudes towards citizenship in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigerians who live in states other than their states of ancestral origin are referred to as non-indigenes, no matter how long they and their parents have lived in the state. This is important, because non-indigenes are often prevented from exercising the full citizenship rights enjoyed by indigenes. One of the most significant implications of this ‘two-tier’ system of citizenship is the exclusion of non-indigenes from access to services provided by state and local governments, in spite of a constitutional provision prohibiting discrimination on grounds of belonging to ‘a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion’. A recent study investigates the attitudes of Nigerians resident in eleven cities towards non-indigenes being granted equal access to government services and elective public offices.

Citation

Alemika, E. iiG Briefing Paper 22. Attitudes towards citizenship in Nigeria. CSAE Economics Department, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK (2012) 2 pp.

iiG Briefing Paper 22. Attitudes towards citizenship in Nigeria

Published 1 January 2012