Bill seeking to prohibit ransom payment with a 15-year jail term has passed its second reading at the floor of the Nigerian Senate.

The Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Bill, 2021 scaled its second reading at the Wednesday plenary session of the senate.

Sponsored by Senator Ezenwa Francis Onyewuchi, the new bill seeks to amend the Terrorism (prevention) act of 2013 to ban the payment of ransom to abductors, kidnappers and terrorists.

Making a case for the bill, Mr Onyewuchi said  the legislation was needed to tackle the worrisome menace of kidnapping which had become a lucrative business in the country.

He added that the bill essentially seeks to substitute section 14 of the Principal Act with a new section to read “Anyone who transfers funds, makes payment or colludes with an abductor, kidnapper or terrorist to receive any ransom for the release of any person who has been wrongfully confined, imprisoned or kidnapped is guilty of a felony and is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment of not less than 15 years.”

Incidences of kidnapping for ransom has become rife especially in northern states of recent. Mass abduction of students have been carried out with the kidnappers demanding huge ransoms before releasing victims.

School children have been abducted in Katsina, Niger and Zamfara with huge sums paid out to secure release of the children, People’s Gazette had reported. In Kaduna, some students of Greenfield University are still in captivity with bandits demanding hundreds of millions before they are released.

State governor Nasir El-Rufai however continue to insist his government would not negotiate with bandits saying such move would further embolden the criminals in their enterprise.

Restating the need to discourage ransom payments, Mr Onyewuchi called on the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration to provide adequate security and urgently strengthen the country’s economy as a matter of urgency.

He also asked federal authorities to accelerate its poverty alleviation programs and provide employment opportunities for youths as well as strengthening the country’s law enforcement agencies to end the menace of kidnapping.