NDLEA jettisons controversial visa clearance policy requiring married women to present letter of approval from their husbands to travel

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said it has jettisoned a controversial visa clearance policy which requires married women to present a letter of approval from their husbands to travel. 

The controversial requirement had sparked widespread criticisms on social media with many people describing it as outdated, discriminatory and government sponsored misogyny. 

The spokesperson for the agency, Femi Babafemi, in a notice on Thursday, October 10, 2024, stated that the provision had been removed as part of an ongoing review of the entire procedure.

“The entire procedure for visa clearance issued by the NDLEA, as required by some countries, is currently under review, and the requirement for a married woman to present a letter of approval from her husband to travel is one of the items the Agency has since discarded as a non-mandatory requirement. The inclusion of this item initially arose due to certain unfavourable developments in some source countries,” the notice read.

“Members of the public are assured that this item has been removed from the list of requirements in the ongoing review, which will be made public in the coming days.”