National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has reversed the rule stating married women must provide a letter of approval from their husbands to obtain a visa clearance certificate.
Gatekeepers News reports that NDLEA’s visa clearance certificate is a document required by some countries, that proves an individual has no drug-related convictions in Nigeria.
Before the reversal, NDLEA mandated married women to submit a “letter of approval to travel from their husband, attached with his passport photograph,” to obtain the certificate.
The policy was widely criticised recently after an X user condemned the requirement in a viral post, labelling it as discriminatory.
The user wrote, “NDLEA’s visa clearance requires that a married woman should bring a letter of approval to travel from her husband along with his passport photograph,”
“There is no such rule for men. This is such disgusting government-sponsored misogyny. Are married women children?”
The post gathered netizens’ attention and sparked outrage across social media platforms, with many saying the policy was unjust and outdated.
Subsequently, NDLEA released a statement clarifying that the requirement had already been removed as part of an ongoing review of its visa clearance procedures.
It said, “The entire procedure for visa clearance issued by the NDLEA as required by some countries is currently undergoing review, and the requirement for a married woman to present a letter of approval from her husband to travel is one of the items that the agency has since jettisoned as a non-mandatory item on the list.”
The agency noted that the rule was originally introduced due to “some ugly developments in some source countries”.
NDLEA assured the public that the rule has been deleted from the list of requirements in the ongoing review.
