By Emma Ogbuehi
Kidnappers and other criminals making living in Nigeria hell on earth may soon pay the price for their evil conducts as a bill proposing life imprisonment for the offence of kidnapping or any form of abduction, wrongful restraint and confinement on Tuesday passed second reading in the Senate.
The bill sponsored by Senator Ibikunle Amosun, former governor of Ogun State, seeks to, among other things, introduce stiffer punishments and punitive measures to combat and prevent kidnapping in Nigeria.
Leading debate on the bill, Amosun observed that kidnapping has become a major security challenge confronting Nigeria.
“The impact of kidnapping on both economic and daily life has been devastating,” he said.
“For many Nigerians, kidnapping is far more devastating than the carnage of Boko Haram in the Northeast, or the carnage in the Middle Belt over land, pasture and water use between farmers and herders.
“In the oil rich South-South, kidnapping is often seem as a manifestation of the insurrection over how oil revenue is distributed.
“Overtime, the pool of potential victims has shockingly been expanded. Now, most victims are often poor villagers, sometimes kidnapped indiscriminately, a departure from the targeted kidnapping of wealthy people. They struggle to pay ransoms because of their relative poverty; and this has resulted into many victims being killed in the process”, he lamented.
Insisting that “Nigeria has one of the highest rates of kidnaps for ransom of both locals and foreigners in all of Africa,” he added, “while the insurgents in the North East now thrive on the proceeds of kidnappings, criminal elements in the South East and South West are also having a field day. In fact, kidnapping has now become a big and lucrative business.”
Citing recent statistics released by Neil Young Associates International – a specialist crisis prevention and response consultancy group – the lawmaker noted that Nigeria accounted for 26 percent of kidnapping and ransom incidents globally.
Similarly, Amosun referred to a report in the Vanguard newspaper of July 13, 2021, which stated that an average of 13 persons were abducted daily in Nigeria in the first half of 2021, bringing to 2,371 the number of reported persons kidnapped in the country within the first six months of the year.
He bemoaned the worrisome development, warning that the trend has the potential of negatively affecting Nigeria’s Foreign Direct Investment.
The lawmaker stated that the bill, therefore, seeks to introduce stiffer punishment for the offence of abduction, wrongful restraint and confinement for ransom.
“This bill also provides more punitive measures for ancillary crimes flowing from the commission of the crime of abduction, like death or grievous harm.
“To achieve the deterrent effect, life imprisonment is proposed for the offence of kidnapping, particularly where death results from the act.
“The law is made stricter by ensuring that recipients of any proceeds of the act of kidnapping are heavily sanctioned with term of imprisonment of up to 30 years”, Amosun said.
The bill, according to him, also proposes to give the Inspector General of Police wider powers to enable adequate policing of the crime of kidnapping.
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, referred the bill after it was exhaustively debated, to the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters.
The Committee, which is chaired by Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, was given four weeks to report back to the upper chamber.