Senate Amends Terrorism Act, Prohibits Payment Of Ransom To Kidnappers

 The Senate has passed a bill seeking to amend the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2013, and to prohibit the payment of ransom to kidnappers in Nigeria.

The passage of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2013 (Amendment) Bill, 2022, followed the consideration of a report by the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters.

The report was laid by the committee chairman, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central), before consideration.

Mr Bamidele, in his presentation, said the bill seeks to outlaw the payment of ransom to abductors, kidnappers and terrorist for release of any person who has been wrongfully confined, imprisoned or kidnapped.

According to the lawmaker, “the overall import of this bill is to discourage the rising spate of kidnapping and abduction for ransom In Nigeria, which is fast spreading across the country.”

He disclosed that in the memoranda presented to the committee, plethora of issues relating to the subject matter of terrorism and terrorism financing in line with global best practices were raised.

He assured that the amendment to the Terrorism Act would set standards and regulatory system intended to prevent terrorist groups from laundering money through the banking system and other financial networks.

He added that, “having policies in place to combat financing of terrorism will surely reduce or eliminate privacy and anonymity in financial and other sundry transactions as it relates to the subject in our society.”

He explained further that the need to comprehensively review the Terrorism Prevention Act arose from the unfavorable ratings of Financial Act Task Force (FATF) recommendations of Nigeria’s Mutual Evaluation Report and consequent placement of Nigeria in FATF’S International Cooperation and Review Group Process with its impending sanctions on Nigeria’s economy.