Nigerian Senate Moves to Stop Ransom Payments to Kidnappers

The Senate has passed a Bill imposing jail terms of at least 15 years for paying a ransom to free someone who has been kidnapped, also making abduction a crime punishable by death, in cases where victims die.

The Bill, which amends Nigeria's terrorism law, mandates the death penalty for convicted kidnappers where the abduction leads to loss of life and life imprisonment in other cases.

Opeyemi Bamidele, chairman of the Senate's judiciary, human rights, and legal committee, told the Senate that making ransom payment punishable with lengthy jail sentences would "discourage the rising spate of kidnapping and abduction for ransom in Nigeria, which is fast spreading across the country". The Senate's Bill will now be debated in the Lower House of Representatives before being sent for President Muhammadu Buhari for signing.

Critics say the move is unfair as it criminalises people who are desperate to free their relatives.

Armed criminal gangs, known as bandits, are blamed for rising violence and mass kidnappings in northwest Nigeria. Kidnapping for ransom has become rampant in many parts of Nigeria. They have increasingly targeted schoolchildren who have been kept at their forest hideouts, while negotiating payment for their release.