NIGERIA/SOUTH AFRICA: Nigerian Passport Rules are Stacked Against Women

Last week, the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg, South Africa, told a Nigerian woman she cannot apply for her children without a letter from the children's father, and kindly offered to issue the documents as soon as the paternal endorsement is received.

The shocked woman asked the reason for her denial and the reason given by the immigration officer at the consulate was that “in Nigeria, the children belong to the man.” This incident is a pointer to the series of institutional discriminations against women in the country, including the lack of opportunities for men married to Nigerian women to take their wives' nationality if they so desire, while foreign women married to Nigerian men have no such problem.

Immigration officials at the Lagos Passport Office, Ikoyi, confirmed that the father's consent is indeed a prerequisite while applying for the passports of minors.

A senior official at the office, who doesn't want to be named because he did not have clearance to speak on the issue, said this is done to prevent situations where the mother of a child might want to take such a child away from their father without the father's knowledge, for instance, while divorce is being ironed out.

“I have had cases here where fathers have denied being aware that their children have applied for passports,” he said.

However, Chibogu Obinwa, the senior programme officer of BAOBAB, a women's human rights advocacy group, thinks the reason given by the Immigration Service cannot hold water.

“It does not take into consideration the circumstances which may have led the woman wanting to take the children out of the marriage,” she said. “It could be that the woman is in an abusive marriage, (to her and the children)”.

Another senior official at the office of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) at Alagbon Close, Lagos, who also requested anonymity, corroborated what the officer said at the Passport Office.

“It is purely for security reasons,” he said. “It is intended to check crimes such as human trafficking and child labour.” When asked if the mother's consent is required when a father is the one applying for their passport, the immigration official said this may not be necessary since Nigeria is a patrilineal society.

“You must understand that Nigeria is a patrilineal society and the child belongs to the father. In a country like Ghana that is a matrilineal society, this may be possible.”

Jiti Ogunye, a Lagos-based lawyer, expressed displeasure at the practice of government officials in the application of laws, which he said reinforce the patriachal posture of the Nigerian society. Mr Ogunye said such practices are unconstitutional, as they negates the principle of equality of sexes and the abhorrence of discrimination enshrined in the country's constitution.

“It is unconstitutional, because there should be equality of treatment of both gender by the law and in the application of all laws and regulations in Nigeria, discrimination should be avoided. You can't discriminate anybody on the account of sex, circumstances of birth, state of origin and religion. The constitutional provision in section 34 of the constitution writes against discrimination.

However, Mr Ogunye believes that while the immigration has the power to request for the father's consent to corroborate the mother's claims if she shows up first at the passport office, such treatment should be meted out to the man also if he is the one that shows up first at the passport office. This, he said, will justify the principle of equality as stated in the constitution.

When asked if the immigration is not deliberately negating the tenets of the constitution on equality of sexes, the senior immigration official at the immigration office at Alagbon retorted, “Our job is to implement government policies. It is the job of a court of competent jurisdiction to decide what is constitutional or not.”

A history of discrimination

The Nigerian immigration law has a long history of discrimination against women in its administrative policy on the issuance of international passports. Prior to June 2009, when Priye Iyalla-Amadi, the wife of the famous Nigerian writer, Elechi Amadi, got what is being regarded today as a landmark judgement against the NIS, even adult women were required to get their husband's consent before they can apply for international passports.

In the case between Priye Iyalla-Amadi versus the NIS, a federal high court in Port Harcourt declared as unconstitutional the policy of the NIS which compelled a married Nigerian woman to produce a letter of consent from her husband as a condition for issuance of international passport.

NEXT can confirm that since the judgement was issued, the NIS has jettisoned the policy that requires married women to get their husband's consent before they are issued passports.

“I have not been asked to produce any such thing. Not at all,” said Mrs. Osinsanya, an applicant at the Lagos passport office in Ikoyi.