The National Orientation Agency (NOA) says the prosecution of the woman who allegedly tore her husband’s Nigerian passport will serve as a deterrent to others.
On Saturday, videos of Favour Igiebor destroying her husband’s international passport at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos circulated on social media.
However, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) said it has launched a formal investigation into the destruction of the Nigerian passport.
In a statement on Monday, Paul Odenyi, deputy director at NOA, quoted Lanre Issa-Onilu, director-general (DG) of the agency, to have condemned Igiebor’s action.
Issa-Onilu said mutilating the passport is an assault on the symbol and identity of Nigeria.
The NOA DG said the agency would support the NIS to “investigate and prosecute such breach in line with section 10 (B) of the Immigration Act 2015 as a deterrence to those who may willfully damage an important national symbol”.
He appealed to Nigerians to “continue to show respect for the national symbols as part of our patriotic commitment to national development”.
“The international passport issued by the Nigerian Immigration Service is the property of the federal government, and no person who has the privilege of owning one should abuse or even damage them under whatever guise,” the statement reads.
“What the lady has done is a grievous assault on our collective assets and a dent on the symbol of our identity as a nation.”
Section 10(b) of the Nigerian Immigration Act of 2015 states that “a person who unlawfully alters, tampers with, or mutilates any passport or any pages thereof, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of ten years or a fine of Two Million Naira or both.”