NDLEA withdraws controversial visa clearance requirement for married women

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has withdrawn the controversial visa requirement, which stipulated that married women must obtain their husbands’ consent before jetting out of the country.

Nigerians were up in arms on Thursday after the new NDLEA visa clearance procedures made their way into the social media space.

The requirement mandated married women to submit a spousal approval letter as part of the visa application process, a policy that drew the fury of millions of citizens.

Shortly after it became a topic of discussion in several online forums, the anti-narcotic body issued a statement, stating that the provision had been removed as part of an ongoing review of the entire procedure.

NDLEA assures Nigerians over controversial requirement

NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, who issued the notice, explained that the inclusion of the controversial requirement had arisen due to certain unsavoury developments in some source countries.

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He assured Nigerians that the policy had been expunged from the list of requirements in ongoing review, which will be made public very soon.

“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.“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,” he stated.