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Benin is granting citizenship to descendants of enslaved people

Ciara’s Album Cover / Rights: Beauty Marks Entertainment

The Grammy-winning, multi-platinum selling superstar Ciara has become a citizen of Benin. The ceremony took place on Saturday in the city of Cotonou, which is a large port city on the south coast of Benin. Cotonou is also the seat of government.

The granting of citizenship follows Benin passing a law (Law No. 2024‑31) in September last year, which would grant citizenship to individuals of sub‑Saharan African descent whose ancestors were forcibly removed from Africa during the trans‑Atlantic slave trade. The law requires applicants to be at least 18 years of age, to not already hold citizenship of an African country, and to prove their sub-Saharan African ancestry through DNA tests, authenticated testimonies, or family records.

In an Instagram post that has been liked by over 179,000 people, Ciara said she was ‘honored to receive Beninese citizenship, becoming the first person in the world granted nationality under this new initiative!’

The award of citizenship was presented by His Excellency President Patrice Talon of Benin.

Benin’s decision to grant citizenship to descendants of former slaves is highly significant for several reasons.

Primarily, it strengthens the connection between people of Afro-Caribbean descent and their ancestral African nations. This initiative conceptually aligns with the historical calls from prominent civil rights leaders like Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois, who championed collaboration between Africans and the African diaspora. They believed this unity was important for the empowerment of people of African origin (often referred to as “colored people” or “Negroes” during that period of American history) and for Black Americans to secure their rightful civil rights.

Further, this initiative represents an olive branch of sorts because Benin happens to be a country with a painful history as a major point of departure for enslaved Africans. Specifically, it is estimated that approximately 1.5 million people were forcibly taken from the Bight of Benin, a region that encompasses modern-day Benin, Togo, and parts of Nigeria, to be sent into slavery in the Caribbean or the Americas.

But the scheme is also a clever initiative by Benin to attract Afro-descendants from the diaspora, acknowledging the country’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, and promoting tourism focused on slavery-related sites of remembrance(e.g. The Door of No Return / La Porte du Non-Retour). It will be interesting to see how many people take this up and opt to becomes citizens, and what the long term economic impact will be.

Prospective applicants who believe they may be eligible for the scheme can make an application here.

Other countries that have similar schemes include Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone and Liberia. But there are also countries like the Gambia which encourage diaspora reconnections through events like the Roots Festival but do not have a formal citizenship-by-descent program for descendants of former slaves.

In US civil rights history, civil rights leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois saw unity as an important aspect for Black Americans to secure civil rights. Du Bois linked global African struggles to U.S. civil rights through his advocacy for anti-colonialism and racial equality. Marcus Garvey on the other hand focused less on securing civil rights within the U.S. system, but more on Black self-determination, sometimes outside it, through repatriation or economic independence. Thus, both men saw diaspora unity as empowering, and would be pleased with Benin’s new law.

Ciara’s new album, CiCi, is scheduled for release on August 22, 2025.

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