The Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Bill, passed second reading in the Senate, Wednesday.
The bill is seeking to forbid the payment and receiving of ransom to secure the freedom of any abducted person in Nigeria.
In recent times, Nigeria has been witnessing an alarming trend of some armed bandits abducting people most especially students and subsequently demanding for a payment of ransom to free their victims. This triggered the Senate to prohibit such acts through legislation.
The Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Bill, 2021, was sponsored by Senator Ezenwa Francis Onyewuchi, who represents the Imo East Senatorial District at the red Chambers.
Leading debate on the bill, Onyewuchi said the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Bill 2021 is necessary to amend the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2013, which failed to prohibit payment of ransom to kidnappers and other criminals in the country.
According to the Lawmaker, the new bill will outlaw the payment of ransom to abductors, kidnappers and terrorists for securing the release of any person who has been wrongfully confined, imprisoned or kidnapped.
According to the bill, any Nigerians who pay ransom to kidnappers and the kidnappers who receive same risk 15 years imprisonment.
While raising alarm, the Lawmaker stated that the Senate should as a matter of urgency pass the bill in order to stop kidnapping for ransom in the country, which has become a lucrative business in recent times.
According to Onyewuchi, the bill essentially seeks to amend section 14 of the Principal Act with a new section to read, “Anyone who transfers funds, makes payment or colludes with an abductor, kidnapper or terrorist to receive any ransom for the release of any person who has been wrongfully confined, imprisoned or kidnapped is guilty of a felony and is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment of not less than 15 years.”
“Kidnapping is on the increase in Nigeria and it is prevalent across all the geopolitical zones.
“Some blame the rise of this criminal activity on poverty, religion, politics, deficiency of existing laws, unemployment, connivance of security agents, corruption, and greed among others.
“Our unemployed youths are also turning out to kidnapping to get money (ransom) as a survival strategy.
“Whatever the reason, it is most obvious that kidnapping in Nigeria puts everyone at risk, the rich and the poor, old and young, male and female, foreigner or indigene, expatriate or non-expatriate, traditional rulers and religious leaders, among others.”
“The reason behind payments of ransom is rooted on the fact that people easily identify with individual suffering.
“However, History has shown that even where ransom is proven to have been paid, the life or safe return of a kidnap victim may not be guaranteed,” the lawmaker added.
Meanwhile, the instrument in the proposed bill negates the position canvassed by a popular Islamic Cleric, Sheik Abubakar Gumi, who has been calling for dialogue with the bandits terrorising the country.
Gumi had in the past demanded that amnesty be granted to the marauding bandits.
The Kaduna-based cleric had asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to pay the N100 million ransom and provide the 10 motorcycles demanded by the armed bandits who abducted about 23 students from the Greenfield University, Kaduna State.
