By Nathaniel Zaccheaus, Abuja
In a dramatic escalation of its fight against Nigeria’s worsening insecurity, the Senate on Wednesday approved sweeping amendments to the 2022 Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, expanding the death sentence to kidnappers and every individual or institution linked to kidnapping operations, including financiers, informants, harbourers, logistics suppliers, and transporters.
The amendment bill, sponsored by Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, seeks to formally classify kidnapping and hostage-taking as acts of terrorism nationwide, giving security agencies broader legal powers to dismantle criminal networks, trace illicit funds, disrupt logistics chains, and fast-track terror-related prosecutions.
Debated under a tense plenary presided over by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, the bill received unanimous support across party lines.
It has now been referred to the Committees on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters; National Security and Intelligence; and Interior for public hearing and further legislative input within two weeks.
Leading the debate, Bamidele warned that kidnapping had evolved into a fully commercialised, militarised enterprise threatening national stability.
He said what used to be isolated crimes had become coordinated, brutal, and destabilising acts of terror.
According to him, families are bankrupted, farmlands abandoned, and lives wasted, stressing that the patterns of operation now bear all the marks of terrorism.
He emphasised that the bill targets only violent offenders and their networks, not innocent citizens.
Senator Adams Oshiomhole, Chair of the Senate Committee on Interior, backed the proposal but dismissed Nigeria’s deradicalisation programme as wasteful and ineffective.
He said some of those reintegrated into society often returned to crime, insisting that the penalty for anyone convicted of terrorism should be death.
Senator Orji Uzor Kalu lamented the daily brutality of kidnappers, saying the rising number of widows, orphans, and traumatised victims made the Senate’s position inevitable.
He said everyone involved, from sponsors to informants and logistics suppliers, must face the consequences.
Senator Victor Umeh, Chair of the Committee on National Population and NIMC, condemned the complicity of financial systems used to pay ransoms running into tens of millions of naira.
He questioned why ransoms were frequently paid through financial institutions without consequences, insisting that banks and individuals who facilitate ransom payments must be investigated.
He added that only political will and decisive enforcement of capital punishment would deter offenders.
Minority Leader Senator Abba Moro said the death penalty was necessary to halt the nationwide reign of terror. He stressed that the country could no longer allow criminals to overrun communities.
Bamidele explained that the amendment would empower security agencies to trace and seize kidnapping-linked assets, strengthen intelligence coordination, and disrupt ransom flows that sustain violent criminal groups.
Describing kidnapping as a war on the Nigerian people, he said the government must respond with firmness and clarity.
As mass abductions continue to ravage highways, homes, schools, and farmlands, the Senate’s move represents one of its strongest legislative steps yet to confront kidnapping as an existential threat to Nigeria’s internal security.
