The Senate approved the death penalty for individuals who import, deal, or traffic hard drugs like cocaine and heroin into Nigeria, as part of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act (Amendment) Bill, 2024.

This decision was made during a session on Thursday, with Senate Whip Ali Ndume recommending a harsher punishment than the current life imprisonment, citing the need to “toughened ” the law.

The proposed change would amend Section 11 of the existing law to impose a death sentence for drug importation and dealing offenses.

He stated, “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.

“It should be toughened beyond life imprisonment. It should be the death sentence, either by hanging or any way.”

Some senators, including Adams Oshiomhole, former Governor of Edo State, expressed their disapproval of the proposal, with Oshiomhole taking the floor to share his concerns. He emphasized that he approaches matters of life and death with utmost seriousness and rarely makes light of such issues.

“When a matter has to do with life and death, we should be accountable. Let’s divide the Senate. This is lawmaking. We are not here to take voice votes,” Oshiomhole mentioned.

Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, who was presiding over the session, overruled Adams Oshiomhole’s objection, stating that he should have requested a division (a formal vote) immediately after the initial vote, rather than waiting until the Senate had moved on to another clause in the amendment bill.

“This is about procedure. You were supposed to call for a division; you didn’t do so. I am sorry, I can’t help you”, the DSP stood his ground and stuck with the decision of the Senate.

In the same vein, Senator Sampson Ekong from Akwa Ibom State opposed the Senate’s decision, but his objection was disregarded.

Despite the opposition, the Senate proceeded to approve the bill for a third reading.

The evaluation of the bill was a joint effort by the Committees on Judiciary, Human Rights, and Legal Matters, as well as Drugs and Narcotics.

Following the Senate session, the Chairman of the Joint Committee, Mohammed Monguno, informed Senate correspondents that the death penalty had been endorsed, emphasizing that the objections from Oshiomhole and other members did not sway the decision of the presiding officer.

It is worth noting that in September 2022, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency seized 1.8 tonnes of cocaine valued at “N194 billion” in Lagos, marking it as the largest single cocaine seizure ever made by the agency.

According to reports by Wakadaily, Nigeria has been identified by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as a prominent transit point for drug trafficking in the Gulf of Guinea, with increasing collaborations with drug syndicates in South and Central America.

Morocco was ranked as the second-largest market for drug trafficking in Africa after Nigeria.

The UNODC’s ‘Global Report on Cocaine 2023’ highlighted that Nigerian traffickers often cooperate with their counterparts in other countries, particularly with members of cult groups in European destinations and those conducting operations in Brazil.

The report mentioned, “Based on aggregate reporting to UNODC, by Nigeria and other countries, on the main cocaine trafficking routes during 2018-2021, trafficking of cocaine was reported from Nigeria to 20 countries or territories, including countries within the subregion (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Ghana, Senegal, Liberia), transit countries in Africa (Algeria, Ethiopia, Morocco), and countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific region (Australia, China, Hong Kong, China, India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka), in the Near and Middle East/ South-West Asia (Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) and in Europe (Turkiye, United Kingdom),” the report reads.

“Cocaine arrives in Nigeria via a variety of channels including bulk carrier vessels arriving at seaports such as Apapa, Tincan Island, and Onne: passenger flights into airports such as those of Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, and Kano: across land borders at various locations, including Seme (on the border with Benin) and llela (on the border with
Niger); and via parcels delivered by courier companies or postal services.

“The most prominent departure country for cocaine reaching Nigeria is Brazil. Thus, despite the established and
well-connected presence of Nigerian traffickers within an international network of actors and counterparts trafficking cocaine (and other drugs), notably with regard to trafficking by air, in view of the available seizure data, it is plausible that the volume of cocaine transiting Nigerian territory is a relatively modest share of the quantities reaching West and Central Africa.