May 9, (THEWILL)- The Nigerian Senate has approved death penalty as punishment for any person convicted of drug trafficking charges in the country.
This followed the consideration and adoption of the report of the Senate Committees on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters and Drugs and Narcotics, on the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Act (Amendment) Bill, 2024.
Chairman of the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights & Legal Matters, Mohammed Monguno (APC-Borno North), presented the report at plenary on Thursday.
The punishment for persons convicted of drug trafficking charges 8 in Nigeria, had been life imprisonment. However, the new NDLEA Act (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which passed a third reading on Thursday, aims to update the list of dangerous drugs, strengthen the operations of the NDLEA, review penalties, and empower the establishment of laboratories.
Section 11 of the current act, which prescribes that “any person who, without lawful authority, imports, manufactures, produces, processes, plants or grows the drugs popularly known as cocaine, LSD, heroin or any other similar drugs shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to be sentenced to imprisonment for life”, was amended to reflect a stiffer penalty of death.
Although the report did not recommend a death penalty for the offence, during consideration, Senator Ali Ndume moved that the life sentence should be upgraded to the death penalty.
During a clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, who presided over the session, put the amendment on the death penalty to a voice vote and ruled that the “ayes” had it.
The bill was subsequently read for the third time and passed by the Senate.
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