Kidnapping: Senate proposes 15-year jail term for payment, receipt of ransom

A BILL that seeks to prohibit the payment and receipt of ransom for the release of any person kidnapped, imprisoned, or wrongfully confined has been proposed and considered by the Senate.

The Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Bill, 2021, sponsored by Senator Ezenwa Francis Onyewuchi, scaled second reading during plenary yesterday.

The bill proposed 15-year imprisonment to anyone who pays ransom to kidnappers or receives from those kidnapped.

Onyewuchi said the legislation seeks to amend the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2013 to outlaw the payment of ransom to abductors, kidnappers, and terrorists for the release of any person who has been wrongfully confined, imprisoned or kidnapped.

According to him, kidnapping has become a fast and lucrative business, adding that, “it has now remained the most virulent form of banditry in Nigeria and the most pervasive and intractable violent crime in the country.”

He added that “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.”