The Senate has passed the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2013 (Amendment) Bill 2022 into law. Essentially, the bill seeks to criminalise the payment of ransom to kidnappers. The bill also prescribes 15-year jail term for families and friends of kidnap victims who pay ransom to secure freedom for their loved ones.
The lawmakers also believe that punishing those who pay ransom to kidnappers with lengthy jail terms would stem the rising spate of abduction for ransom in the country. However, many Nigerians have opposed the bill because of its emphasis on punishing the families of the victims instead of those who commit the crime of kidnapping.
Between December 2020 and March 2021, armed bandits kidnapped over 760 students across states in the North. About 300 boys were kidnapped in Kankara, Katsina State, in the same manner the 276 Chibok girls were abducted by members of the Boko Haram sect in 2014 in Borno State. After six days in captivity, the Kankara boys were released with the government denying any ransom payment. Kidnapping for ransom has become rife in the country.
On March 28, this year, passengers in a Kaduna/Abuja bound train were abducted. And some of them have been released after payment of hefty ransom, while others are still in captivity. It is likely that some of the kidnapping cases are unreported. Available statistics show that a minimum of $18.34million has been paid out to kidnappers as ransom by families and government between June 2011 and March 2020.
It is apparent that kidnapping for ransom has become a lucrative business in the country and the list of people languishing helplessly in kidnappers den is growing. While endorsing death penalty for kidnapping as prescribed in the bill, the aspect of the bill that criminalises ransom payment is wrong and unacceptable.
If the bill becomes law, any person who pays ransom to secure freedom for his kidnap victim risks a 15-year jail term. The bill does not also proffer workable suggestions on how to free a victim of kidnapping from captivity beyond the usual deployment of security agents, which has, so far, not produced the desired results.
Instead of dissipating so much energy and resources on how to monitor and punish those who pay ransom to release their loved ones from kidnappers, let government deploy more resources in apprehending the kidnappers and rescuing the victims as done in other countries. Government should do more to check the rising insecurity across the country by holistically addressing the triggers of insecurity, such as poverty, unemployment and bad governance.
If the United States of America and United Kingdom governments can go to any length to rescue their kidnapped citizens, our government can equally do the same to her kidnapped citizens. Section 14 (2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) clearly states that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.”
The Federal Government should not abdicate this important duty assigned to it by the constitution. Since kidnapping is a crime, the bill should aim at punishing those who committed the crime and not those who were coerced to pay ransom to secure freedom for their loved ones.
The bill should be thrown out considering that it is not going to stop kidnapping. It should not be presented to the president for his assent. Any law that will stop kidnapping will be targeted at the kidnappers and not the families or relations of their victims who pay ransom. The bill is retrogressive and uncalled for.
The fact that some security agencies reportedly coerce families of victims to pay ransom to secure freedom for their kidnapped loved ones, defeats the goal of the proposed law. Moreover, security agencies have rationalised their inability to rescue some kidnap victims on the ground that such a venture will result in the death of the victims.
Ransom payment obtains simply because of the helplessness of the families of the victims. People pay ransom to secure the release of their kidnapped relations because of the failure of the state to rescue them. The reported payment of N100 million ransom by church members for the release of the kidnapped Methodist Church of Nigeria Prelate, His Eminence, Samuel Kanu-Uche, and two clergymen underscores the enormity of the problem.
There is no doubt that the families of victims of kidnapping will prefer to use money to secure their freedom instead of waiting endlessly for the intervention of security agents. The Senate should rather enact a law that will strengthen the security agencies to track down kidnappers. If kidnappers are aware that the security agencies have the capacity to track them, the increase in kidnapping for ransom will abate. Let the ridiculous bill be jettisoned.