Dual Citizenship as Development Capital: Constitutional Amendment and Diaspora Economic Integration in Nigeria

Nigeria receives substantial diaspora capital, yet constitutional exclusion prevents its productive deployment. Drawing on development economics, institutional law, and comparative analysis, this paper argues that amending Chapter III of the 1999 Constitution to decouple economic rights from political citizenship can unlock billions in diaspora investment. Learning from India's Overseas Citizenship of India scheme, Ghana's diaspora registration framework, and Benin's nationality by recognition law as counterfactual evidence, the paper proposes a Nigerian Diaspora Card model granting full economic parity to non-birth diasporans whilst preserving political sovereignty. Empirical modelling indicates that removing legal barriers to diaspora property ownership and investment could redirect an additional USD 6.91 billion annually from consumption to productive capital deployment, generating 1.5 percent GDP expansion and 550,000 to 700,000 direct and indirect jobs. The paper concludes that constitutional modernisation, rather than capital scarcity, represents Nigeria's central development imperative for harnessing its diaspora as a permanent development asset.

dual citizenship, diaspora economy, constitutional reform, institutional design

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