The National Assembly on Wednesday called for the public naming and prosecution of terrorism financiers in Nigeria as the Federal Government explores measures to address the growing insecurity across the country.
Both the Senate and House of Representatives pushed for the exposure of terrorism financiers during their plenary as a way of addressing the security crisis facing the country.
The Senate also demanded capital punishment for kidnappers — and anyone who finances, enables or provides information to them — as lawmakers debated amendments to the 2022 Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act.
The proposal, sponsored by the Leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele, seeks to classify kidnapping, hostage-taking and related crimes as terrorism, giving security agencies wider powers to track, disrupt and prosecute criminal networks across the country.
The debate dominated Wednesday’s plenary, drawing contributions from key senators including Adams Oshiomhole, Orji Uzor Kalu and Minority Leader Abba Moro.
After hours of deliberation, the Senate unanimously approved the amendment bill for further legislative work and referred it to the Committees on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters (lead committee), National Security and Intelligence, and Interior.
The committees are expected to report back within two weeks.
Leading the debate on the bill, Bamidele said the purpose was to “designate kidnapping, hostage-taking and related offences as acts of terrorism and prescribe the death penalty for such offences without option of fine or alternative sentence.”
He warned that kidnapping had evolved into “coordinated, commercialised and militarised acts of violence perpetrated by organised criminal groups.”
“Kidnapping has instilled widespread fear in communities; undermined national economic activities and agricultural output; interrupted children’s education; bankrupted families forced to pay ransom; overstretched our security forces, and claimed countless innocent lives,” the Senate leader lamented.
According to him, the patterns of brutality associated with kidnapping “now carry all the characteristics of terrorism,” making it necessary to treat the offence under the counter-terrorism framework.
Bamidele added that the bill would empower security agencies with “broader operational authority, intelligence capabilities, and prosecutorial tools” to pursue terrorists and their enablers.
He stressed that the death penalty would apply not only to kidnappers but also to “their informants, logistics providers, harbourers, transporters, and anyone who knowingly assists, facilitates, or supports kidnapping operations,” adding that “attempt, conspiracy or incitement to kidnap attracts the same penalty.”
“Nigerians are kidnapped on highways, in schools, in homes, on farms and in markets,” he said. “This is not a mere crime. It is terrorism in its purest form.”
