The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has abolished the visa clearance rule that previously required married women to obtain written consent from their husbands before they could embark on international travel.
This development was announced by Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, in a statement issued on Thursday. The agency disclosed that the policy mandating married women to present an approval letter from their spouse has now been scrapped.
The NDLEA’s decision comes after widespread outrage from Nigerians, who had strongly criticized the rule. The controversial requirement not only asked for written spousal consent but also a copy of the husband’s passport photograph before a married woman could be cleared for international travel.
In his statement, Babafemi explained that the rule was originally introduced due to troubling incidents that occurred in certain countries. However, he clarified that the item had been re-evaluated and was now optional in the visa clearance process.
He stated: “The entire procedure for visa clearance issued by the NDLEA, as required by some countries, is currently undergoing review. 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 inclusion of that item ab initio arose following some ugly developments in some source countries.”
Babafemi assured the public that the contentious requirement had been completely removed and that the agency was in the process of reviewing all visa clearance procedures. He added that the updated guidelines would be officially released soon.
“Members of the public are assured that the item has been deleted from the list of requirements in the ongoing review exercise, which will be made public in the coming days,” the statement read.
