The Republic of Benin has bestowed its citizenship to United States Hip-pop singer, Ciara, as part of measures to boost tourism and strengthen ties with Africans in diaspora.
It added that the award afforded the country opportunity to celebrate descendants of their forefathers who were taken away from the country during slave trade era.
Ciara, who won the award recently, became the first celebrity to be officially granted the West African country’s citizenship during a ceremony held in Cotonou.
The country relayed that the initiative tagged ”My Afro Origins Law” was put in place to boost cultural tourism is in line with Africa’s heritage alongside honouring the African ancestors who were taken away from their homeland as part of the transatlantic slave trade.
“This act, which is symbolic, humane and historic, is not merely an administrative gesture,” the government stated yesterday.
“It is a gesture of the soul, a return to one’s roots, a hand extended to those whom history, in its brutality, had torn from this land.”
In an Instagram post the Grammy award winner said that she was honoured to be granted citizenship, expressing delight on the initiative.
