FG orders withdrawal of passports from Nigerians who formally renounce citizenship

FG orders withdrawal of passports from Nigerians who formally renounce citizenship

Nigeria’s federal government has moved from general legal principle to immediate enforcement, ordering the withdrawal and deactivation of Nigerian passports held by people who have formally renounced their citizenship. The directive was issued on Saturday by Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, who instructed the Nigeria Immigration Service to enforce it without delay. 

The key point is narrower than some social media versions suggest. This is not a policy aimed at all dual nationals, and it does not apply simply because a Nigerian has acquired another nationality. It applies specifically to people whose renunciation of Nigerian citizenship has been formally approved by the President, which is the constitutionally required step for renunciation to take effect. 

According to the government’s explanation, once that presidential registration is completed, the person ceases to be a Nigerian citizen and can no longer lawfully retain sovereign Nigerian identity documents, including a passport. The minister said the move is intended to protect the integrity of Nigeria’s citizenship framework and prevent misuse of official travel documents. 

The legal foundation for the order is Section 29 of the 1999 Constitution. That provision states that any Nigerian of full age who wishes to renounce citizenship may make a declaration in the prescribed manner, and that the President shall cause the declaration to be registered, after which the person ceases to be a citizen of Nigeria. Official Nigerian foreign affairs guidance also states that approval of renunciation is the sole prerogative of the President and that the process must be carried out in Nigeria. 

The government has also tied the policy to existing administrative procedure. Official consular guidance says applicants for renunciation must apply through the Ministry of Interior, complete Form G, and submit supporting documents including passport photographs, a birth certificate, the first pages of their Nigerian passport, an affidavit, and evidence of citizenship in the new country. Premium Times reported that the ministry’s process also requires other supporting documents and fees before approval is finalised. 

One important clarification is that Nigerian law permits dual citizenship for citizens by birth. That means a Nigerian-born citizen can acquire another nationality without automatically losing Nigerian citizenship. The present directive therefore targets only those who have chosen to go further and formally renounce Nigerian nationality through the constitutional process. 

What the government has not yet fully explained is how the order will work in practice. The strongest current reporting says the Nigeria Immigration Service is expected to begin compliance checks and deactivate affected passports in its database, but officials have not publicly set out the number of people affected, a timeline for full implementation, or how physical passport retrieval will be handled, especially where former citizens live abroad. 

That gap matters because the story has been circulating in a simplified form as “FG to withdraw passports from citizens who renounce status.” The more precise position, based on the strongest reporting, is that the government has already issued an enforcement order, but the operational details remain incomplete in public. There is no strong public indication yet of a new bill, a new National Assembly amendment, or a blanket passport seizure campaign beyond those whose renunciation has already been constitutionally approved. 

The development sits within a broader effort by the Interior Ministry to tighten identity management and border control. The government’s framing is that citizenship is the basis for access to sovereign documents, and that once citizenship is relinquished, the attached privileges also end. In that sense, the order is being presented less as a new punishment and more as stricter enforcement of the legal consequences of renunciation. 

So the full verified story is this: on April 11, 2026, Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo directed the Nigeria Immigration Service to immediately withdraw

and deactivate passports held by people whose renunciation of Nigerian citizenship has been formally approved by the President. The action is grounded in Section 29 of the Constitution and in Nigeria’s existing renunciation process. It does not apply to all dual citizens, and the government has not yet publicly disclosed full implementation mechanics or the number of affected persons. 

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Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Gabriel Osa