The Nigeria Senate on Thursday, May 9 proposed tougher penalties for dealers and importers of cocaine, heroin and other hard drugs into the country, suggesting death penalty as the new maximum punishment.
The proposed capital punishment also applies to manufacturing, trafficking, dealing in or delivery of hard drugs by any means.
This replaces life imprisonment, previously the harshest penalty.
The Senate arrived at the resolution on the floor of the red chamber after deliberations on the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act (Amendment) Bill, 2024.
Nigeria, with over 200 million people, has shifted from a transit point to a major producer, consumer, and distributor of illegal drugs.
Opioid abuse, notably tramadol, and codeine-containing cough syrups is widespread. The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) had in 2018 banned codeine syrup.
While cannabis is locally grown, cocaine, methamphetamine, and other drugs are trafficked, exacerbating addiction. The proposal, stemming from a Senate report, aims to deter traffickers with the threat of execution.
During the consideration of the report on the bill for passage on Thursday, Senate Whip, Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South), recommended that the punishment of life imprisonment be “toughened” and upgraded to the death penalty.
The penalty for drug importation or dealership is captured in Section 11 of the extant law, which Ndume sought to be increased to a death sentence.
However, some lawmakers are concerned about the death penalty’s irreversible nature and potential for wrongful convictions.
Reacting to the proposal is former governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, who took to the floor to voice out his reservations.
Oshiomhole, who was visibly agitated, told his colleagues that he would rarely joke with any matter concerning life and death.
His position was, however, overruled by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, who presided over the plenary session.
Similarly, Senator Sampson Ekong from Akwa Ibom State kicked against the resolution of the Senate but he was also overruled.
The Senate went ahead to pass the bill for a third reading.
The report on the bill was jointly produced by the Committees on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters/Drugs and Narcotics.
Speaking with Senate correspondents after the plenary, the Chairman of the Joint Committee, Mohammed Monguno, said the Senate approved the death sentence, noting that the voices of Oshiomhole and others did not change the ruling of the presiding officer.
When contacted over the development, the spokesperson for the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, said that the anti-narcotics agency could not comment on the matter, being an ongoing legislative business, which had not yet been finalised.
Meanwhile, senior anti-narcotics officers, who spoke to newsmen on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on the matter, noted that the House of Representatives and the Senate had yet to harmonise their positions on the amended penalty for drug offenders.
They noted that while the House of Representatives was proposing life sentence for convicted drug offenders, the Senate proposed a death sentence, hence the need to harmonise their positions.
The bill, previously passed by the House of Representatives without the death penalty provision, requires reconciliation between Senate and House versions before reaching the president.
