INTRODUCTION

Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under the custom or law as being
a legal member of a sovereign state or belonging to a nation.

A person may have multiple citizenships and a person who does not have
citizenship of any state is said to be stateless.

Nationality is often used as a synonym for citizenship in English – notably

in international law – although the term is sometimes understood as denoting a
person's membership of a nation (a large ethnic group). In some countries, e.g.
the United States, the United Kingdom, nationality and citizenship can have
different meanings (for more information, see Nationality versus citizenship).

The citizen of every nation is very important to that nation. There are certain
rights and privileges that are only available to citizens of a country. Thus, every
nation has a way of determining who is/isn’t a citizen and steps for acquiring
citizenship.

For example, in Nigeria major offices like the President[1], Governors, The
National Assembly and State House of Assembly cannot be occupied by a person
who has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of another country. However, this
is subject to the provision of S. 28 of the 1999 Constitution.

In Nigeria, there are three kinds of citizenship namely:

 Citizenship by birth

 Citizenship by registration

 Citizenship by naturalisation

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CITIZEN
A person who, due to place of birth, naturalization, or other reasons (for
example, citizenship of parents) is a member of a political community or of a civil
state, such as a country or state, and is entitled to all the civil rights and
protections thereof and owes allegiance to its government. See
also naturalization and resident.

For purpose of federal diversity of citizenship lawsuits, a corporation that is

incorporated or has its principal place of business in a state, or an alien granted
permanent residence in the United States and residing in a state, is a citizen of
that state.

WHAT QUALIFIES INDIVIDUAL AS A CITIZEN OF A COUNTRY

Each country has its own policies, regulations and criteria as to who is entitled to
its citizenship. A person can be recognized or granted citizenship on a number of
bases. Usually citizenship based on the place of birth is automatic, but in other
cases an application may be required.

 Citizenship by birth (jus sanguinis). If one or both of a person's parents are

citizens of a given state, then the person may have the right to be a citizen of
that state as well.[a] Formerly this might only have applied through the
paternal line, but sex equality became common since the late twentieth
century. Citizenship is granted based on ancestry or ethnicity and is related to
the concept of a nation state common in Europe. Where jus sanguinis holds, a
person born outside a country, one or both of whose parents are citizens of
the country, is also a citizen. States normally limit the right to citizenship by
descent to a certain number of generations born outside the state, although
some do not. This form of citizenship is common in civil law countries.

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 Born within a country (jus soli). Some people are automatically citizens of
the state in which they are born. This form of citizenship originated
in England where those who were born within the realm were subjects of the
monarch (a concept pre-dating citizenship) and is common in common
law countries.

 In many cases, both jus soli and jus sanguinis hold citizenship either by
place or parentage (or both).

 Citizenship by marriage (jus matrimonii). Many countries fast-track

naturalization based on the marriage of a person to a citizen. Countries which
are destinations for such immigration often have regulations to try to
detect sham marriages, where a citizen marries a non-citizen typically for
payment, without them having the intention of living together.

 Naturalization. States normally grant citizenship to people who have

entered the country legally and been granted permit to stay, or been
granted political asylum, and also lived there for a specified period. In some
countries, naturalization is subject to conditions which may include passing a
test demonstrating reasonable knowledge of the language or way of life of the
host country, good conduct (no serious criminal record) and moral character
(such as drunkenness, or gambling), vowing allegiance to their new state or
its ruler and renouncing their prior citizenship. Some states allow dual
citizenship and do not require naturalized citizens to formally renounce any
other citizenship.

 Excluded categories. In the past there have been exclusions on entitlement to

citizenship on grounds such as skin color, ethnicity, sex, and free status (not
being a slave). Most of these exclusions no longer apply in most places.

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 Modern examples include some Arab countries which rarely grant citizenship
to non-Muslims, e.g. Qatar is known for granting citizenship to foreign
athletes, but they all have to profess the Islamic faith in order to receive
citizenship. The United States grants citizenship to those born as a result of
reproductive technologies, and internationally adopted children born after
February 27, 1983. Some exclusions still persist for internationally adopted
children born before February 27, 1983 even though their parents meet
citizenship criteria.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A CITIZEN AND A NONCITIZEN

1. A citizen is a permanent resident of a state, while a noncitizen is a

temporary resident, who comes for a specific duration of time as a tourist
or on diplomatic assignment.

2. Citizens enjoy political rights and participate in the functioning of govern-

ment, i.e., exercise their right to vote, right to contest elections and right to
hold public office. Noncitizens do not possess such rights in the state
where they reside temporarily. They however enjoy certain civil rights,
i.e., the rights to life, personal property and religion.

3. A citizen of a country has the right to live and to work there, has the right
to come and go as he pleases, and has the right to vote. A citizen cannot
be deported. Noncitizen who resides in the country he's in either
permanently (permanent resident) or temporarily (visa holder) with the
permission of the government of that country, or even without permission
(illegal alien). An alien (= foreigner) cannot come and go as he pleases,
cannot vote, but can be deported.

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REFERENCES

1. Votruba, Martin. "Nationality, ethnicity in Slovakia". Slovak Studies

Program. University of Pittsburgh.

2. Weis, Paul (1979). Nationality and Statelessness in International Law.

Sijthoff & Noordhoff. p. 3. ISBN 9789028603295.

3. S. 137 (1) (a) Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN) 1999

4. Weber, Max (1998). Citizenship in Ancient and Medieval Cities. Chapter 3.

Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota. pp. 43–49. ISBN 0-8166-

2880-7.