The Senate at its plenary session of Wednesday, 27 April 2022, passed for Third Reading, the bill to amend the Terrorism (Prohibition) Act, 2013 (SB 662).
Presenting the report of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters on the bill, Sen. Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (APC: Ekiti) stated that the amendment seeks to prohibit the payment of ransom to abductors, kidnappers and terrorist for the release of any person(s) who have been wrongfully confined, imprisoned or kidnapped.
In his submission, Sen. Bamidele explained that the overall objective of the Bill is to discourage the rising spate of kidnapping and abduction for ransom which is today a norm in Nigeria and to set regulatory systems to prevent terrorist groups from laundering money through the banking system and other financial networks.
According to Sen. Bamidele, the passage of the Bill into law implies that Nigeria will not be listed as one of the countries on the Grey List of the Financial Action Task Force (FAFT) and that the effectiveness of countermeasures against terrorism and terrorism financing will be improved.
