The Senate yesterday approved the death penalty for drug trafficking convicts in the country.
The punishment prescribed in the existing National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Act is a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The Senate’s resolution followed its consideration of a report of the Committees on Judiciary, Human Rights & Legal Matters, and Drugs & Narcotics, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Act (Amendment) Bill, 2024.
The report was presented by the Chairman of the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, & Legal Matters during plenary, Senator Mohammed Monguno (APC, Borno North).
The bill, which scaled the third reading, seeks to review the penalties prescribed in the Act, update the list of dangerous drugs, strengthen the operations of the NDLEA, and empower the agency to establish 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.
The report did not recommend a death penalty for the offence.
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