UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has once again drawn sharp criticism after likening her time at a Nigerian boarding school to “being in prison,” reigniting accusations that she routinely disparages the country of her heritage.
In a recent appearance on the Rosebud podcast with broadcaster Gyles Brandreth, Badenoch described her years at Federal Government Girls College in Sagamu, Ogun State, as marked by “maltreatment and forced labour.” She recalled being given a machete to cut grass and buckets to fetch water — experiences she compared to the brutal dynamics of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.
“That was like being in prison,” Badenoch said. “The machete was for cutting the grass — well, because who else is going to cut the grass? It was a dormitory of about 150 girls, 20 to 30 in each room. It was the first time I was away from my family.”
Badenoch, 44, was born in Wimbledon, London, in 1980, spending much of her childhood in Nigeria and the United States before returning to Britain at 16. She was among the last children to receive UK birthright citizenship before it was abolished in 1981 under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
During the same interview, Badenoch revealed she has not renewed her Nigerian passport in more than two decades and no longer identifies as Nigerian by nationality, despite her ancestry and upbringing.
“I’m Nigerian through ancestry, by birth, despite not being born there because of my parents,” she said. “But by identity I’m not really.”
The remarks have intensified a long-running controversy over her comments about Nigeria. At the Conservative Party conference in October 2024, while launching her leadership bid, she described growing up in Lagos as living in “constant fear,” recounting frequent burglaries and violence in her neighbourhood.
Badenoch has also made repeated criticisms of Nigerian governance and culture. In a 2024 CNN interview, she argued that “not all cultures are equal,” citing laws in Nigeria that deny citizenship rights to children through their mothers, as well as societal tolerance of child marriage and persecution of LGBTQ people.
“Cultures where child marriage is normal, where gay people are killed, where women are treated as second-class citizens — those are not equal cultures,” she said.
Badenoch further warned that Britain risks “ending up like Nigeria” if it does not enact reforms to safeguard its institutions. In her first major speech of 2025, she said:
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life. I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments, and I don’t want Britain to go down that road.”
Her comments have drawn backlash from Nigerian commentators and some British critics, who accuse her of painting an excessively negative picture of the country. Supporters argue she is speaking candidly about her lived experience and the dangers of poor governance.
The latest controversy comes at a delicate time for Badenoch as she seeks to consolidate her position as leader of the Conservative Party amid a divided political landscape
