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.

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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.