The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says married women no longer have to provide a letter of approval from their husbands in order to obtain a visa clearance certificate.
The NDLEA’s visa clearance certificate is a document that proves an individual has no drug-related convictions in Nigeria — a requirement by some countries.
Previously, the NDLEA mandated married women to submit a “letter of approval to travel from their husband, attached with his passport photograph,” to obtain the certificate.
This rule, however, did not apply to men.
The policy came under fire recently when an X user criticised the requirement in a viral post, labelling it as discriminatory.
“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,” the user wrote.
“There is no such rule for men. This is such disgusting government-sponsored misogyny. Are married women children?”
The post quickly gained traction, sparking outrage across social media platforms, with many calling the policy unjust and outdated.
In response, the NDLEA issued a statement clarifying that the requirement had already been removed as part of an ongoing review of its visa clearance procedures.
“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 statement said.
The agency explained that the rule was originally introduced due to “some ugly developments in some source countries”.
The NDLEA assured the public that the rule has now been deleted from the list of requirements in the ongoing review.
The revised visa clearance procedure is expected to be made public in the coming days.
