British Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch, has stirred fresh controversy following her remarks likening her time at a Nigerian secondary school to being in prison.
In a recent viral video, Badenoch recalled her time at the Federal Government Girls College, Sagamu, Ogun State, where she described being subjected to harsh conditions, including manual labour and inadequate amenities.
“I went to a secondary school, it was called a Federal Government girls’ school in a place called Sagamu. And that was like being in prison,” she said.
“When I tell the stories about using a machete and having to fetch buckets of water… that was the first time that I was away from home, away from my family.”
She described dormitory life in stark terms: “It’s a federal boarding school. And it was a dormitory with about 150 [girls], I think, 20 to 30 in a room. And there were, you know, six rooms.
“The machete was for cutting the grass. Well, because who else is going to cut the grass?”
Badenoch, who was born in Wimbledon, London, in 1980, spent much of her childhood in Nigeria and the United States before returning to the UK at 16. Although of Nigerian descent, she has repeatedly expressed a disconnect from the country.
In an interview on the Rosebud podcast on August 1, 2025, she said, “I’m Nigerian through ancestry, by birth, despite not being born there because of my parents, but by identity I’m not really.
“I know the country very well, I have a lot of family there, and I’m very interested in what happens there.”
Critics have pointed to a long history of similar remarks. In her speech during the UK Conservative Party Conference in October 2024, Badenoch painted a grim picture of growing up in Lagos.
“I was born here (UK), but I grew up in a place where fear was everywhere. You cannot understand it unless you’ve lived it.
“Triple checking that all the doors and windows are locked, waking up in the night at every sound, listening as you hear your neighbour scream as they are being burgled and beaten, and wondering if your home would be next.”
In another appearance on CNN with Fareed Zakaria, Badenoch accused Nigeria of gender-based inequality in citizenship laws, highlighting that her children couldn’t inherit Nigerian citizenship from her because she is a woman.
“Not all cultures are equal,” she stated. “Cultures where child marriage is normal, where gay people are killed, where women are treated as second-class citizens — those are not equal cultures. And I will not accept that.”
She continued, “You have to be honest about that. So you say to somebody who’s coming from Nigeria and wants to create a little mini-Nigeria in Britain – ‘No, that is not right.’ And Nigerians would not tolerate that. That’s not something that many countries would accept.”
Badenoch argued that citizenship systems are often abused.
“It’s virtually impossible, for example, to get Nigerian citizenship. I had that citizenship by virtue of my parents. I can’t give it to my children because I’m a woman.
“Yet loads of Nigerians come to the UK, stay for a relatively brief period of time, acquire British citizenship. We need to stop being naive.”
In her New Year speech in 2025, she once again warned against the UK following Nigeria’s path.
READ ALSO: Nigerian Aide Slams UK Minister Kemi Badenoch Over Citizenship Claims
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.”
On December 14, 2024, Badenoch shared her distrust of the Nigerian police while speaking with The Free Press.
“My experience with the police in Nigeria was very negative, and coming to the UK, my first experience with the police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria would rob us. I remember the police stealing my brother’s shoes and his watch. It’s a very poor country, so people do all sorts of things,” she said.
Despite her strong criticisms, Badenoch once leveraged her Nigerian background during her 2010 campaign for the UK Parliament seat in Dulwich & West Norwood. In outreach posts targeting Nigerians, she appealed for support by identifying closely with her roots.
“As you know, I’m running for parliament in the 2010 UK general elections for Dulwich & West Norwood… Nigerians have been fantastic. My immediate circle of friends, ex-schoolmates, their friends, and all our families have really rallied around,” she wrote.
She added, “Like you, I am sick and tired of reading that Nigerians are fraudsters, terrorists, bombing aeroplanes, or slaughtering each other in places like Jos. I am asking for your help now to support a Nigerian who will improve our national image and do something great here…. This is a chance to have someone with real influence over British-Nigerian relations.”
Badenoch’s remarks have continued to polarise opinion, with many critics accusing her of reinforcing negative stereotypes about Nigeria, while her supporters see her statements as frank reflections on the need for reform and personal freedom.