By Chris Udochukwu
ABUJA – Human rights activist, Comrade Shehu Sani has reacted to the death penalty passed by the National Assembly for drug traffickers, saying they should go beyond death penalty by engaging in vigorous community and national advocacy that will discourage trafficking and provide legitimate economic alternatives to young people.
Precise Post recalls that the Senate had on Thursday, approved death penalty for dealers and importers of cocaine, heroin and other hard drugs into the country. The proposed capital punishment also extends to manufacturing, trafficking, dealing in or delivery of hard drugs by any means.
The Senate arrived at the resolution on the floor of the red chamber after deliberations on the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act (Amendment) Bill, 2024.
Before now, the maximum punishment in the extant law for offenders is life imprisonment.
However, during the consideration of the report on the bill for passage on Thursday, Senate Whip, Ali Ndume recommended that the punishment of life imprisonment be “toughened” and upgraded to the death penalty.
He said, “This life imprisonment should be changed to a death sentence. This is the standard worldwide. We have to do this to address this problem of drugs that has seriously affected our youths.
The report on the bill was jointly produced by the Committees on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters/Drugs and Narcotics.
However, the federal lawmaker that represented Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the 8th Assembly who took his X account to make his own cobtribution, admitted that the trafficking of hard drugs has seriously dented the image of our country and destroyed the lives of thousands of our young people.
He continues:
“The death penalty passed by the National Assembly is a significant step; but wether that will curtail drug trafficking will be left to be seen, going by the fact that the destination countries of these culprits also have death penalties.”
“The Nigerian Government must go beyond death penalty by engaging in vigorous community and national advocacy that will discourage trafficking and provide legitimate economic alternatives to young people!”
