Senate, on Tuesday, passed a bill which prescribes life imprisonment for anyone found guilty of kidnapping.
This is against the current 10 years maximum sentence for kidnappers.
The bill contains amendments to the criminal code, which is currently in operation in the southern part of Nigeria.
The proposed legislation, sponsored by Senator Oluremi Tinubu, is titled, “A bill for an Act to amend the Criminal Code Act CAP. C.38, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004.”
It seeks to delete the statute of limitation on defilement, increase punishment for the offence of kidnapping, and remove gender restrictions in the offence of rape and other related matters.
The bill eliminates time frame for prosecuting defilement cases by increasing the period from two months to as many years as the victim decide to take up the manner.
It also removes gender restrictions on the offence of rape by explaining that both male and female could be raped.
The passage of the bill followed the consideration of the report of the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, chaired by Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central).
In his presentation, Bamidele said the frequency of kidnapping across the Federation and the resultant trauma, not to mention the number of lives lost to the crime, made it imperative to review the laws with a view to ensuring appropriate punishment for perpetrators as well as serve as deterrence to would be perpetrators.
When signed into law, the Bill will apply to the Federal High Courts in the southern part of the country, where the Criminal Code Act is applicable and operational.
The Northern part of the country operates the Penal Code.