Senate Steps Down Bill Seeking Life Sentence For Drug Offenses

The Senate on Wednes­day stepped down a bill seeking life sentence for persons convicted in drug related of­fenses.

The bill entitled “Report of A Bill for An Act To Amend The National Drug Law En­forcement Agency Act, CAP. NO30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 To Strengthen The Operations of the Agency, Empower the Agency To Es­tablish Laboratories, Update The List of Dangerous Drugs, Review The Penalty Provi­sions, Enhance The Power of The Agency To Prosecute Drug-Related Offences And Issue Subsidiary Legislation; And For Related Matters.

Participating in the debate on the impact of drug abuse in the country, and the need for a classification of appro­priate punishment for offend­ers, former Plateau State gov­ernor, Senator Simon Lalong; said that the introduction of the Bill “is timely.”

He explained that “hard drugs are not easy,” adding that “in the last ten years it’s been a menace amongst young people leading to insecurity.”

According to him, last week a video surfaced of the invention of a drug that leads to mental paralysis.

While insisting that the penalty for drug abuse should be based on its category of us­age – production, carriage or usage, the lawmaker pointed out that as a governor “It took me three years to prosecute a drug Baron in Jos.

“At the time he was in jail he was still producing more,” he added.

Lalong said drug barons are patronized by high class individuals in society.

See Also

Liberia Signs Law to Set Up Crimes Court For Victims of Its Two Civil Wars

He called for a holistic ap­proach in tackling the crisis, as he warned of new methods being employed by offenders, stressing on the need to adopt new methods that would “pro­tect our youths and genera­tion to come.”

The Plateau State lawmak­er further emphasized the role of civil society groups in the race against drug abuse in the country.

Continuing, Senators Adams Oshiomole and Mo­hamed Mongonu under­scored the need to classify drugs, as they maintained that the Senate should not rubber stamp anything what­soever that comes from the House of Representatives.

Their position was in­spired by the fact that the bill is concurrence legislation from the lower chamber.