Senate Seeks Stiffer Penalty For Offenders In NAFDAC Act Amendment

The Senate, yesterday, in a bid to fine tune the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act 2004, in line with current trends commenced the consideration of its Amendment Bill 2021.
The Amendment Bill, which scaled second reading, seeks consistent sentencing for convicted offenders, and “to put a stop to the illegalities being perpetrated by certain Federal High Court judges by closing the loophole in the law.”
Sponsor of the Bill, Senator Dinka Hezekiah Ayuba (Plateau Central), in his lead debate, noted that the range of penalties of offenders was too weak to discourage offenders.
He explained that when a penalty for an offence becomes ineffective, there comes the need for stiff penalties commensurate to the crime.
According to him, ”That the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap. N 30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 provides for stringent penalties for persons involved in the importation and exportation of hard drugs such as cocaine or heroin. These penalties range from life imprisonment to 15 years which is the minimum penalty.
“A gram of cocaine sells for over N4million in the market. In spite of the fact that the Supreme Court, in the case of Odeh V Federal Republic of Nigeria (2008) 3-4 Supreme Court Cases Page 147 has held that the minimum penalty for those dealing in such hard drugs is a term 15 years, for some unknown reasons, some judges of the Federal High Court have continued to pass ridiculously light and illegal sentences on those convicted.
“Rather than a term of imprisonment of 15 years, the maximum sentence passed on any convict was a term of 3 years for heroin.
“Some of these have been as low as 4 months imprisonment for 1.44Kgs of cocaine.
“Worse still is the fact that when some of the judges pass these light terms of imprisonment, the convicts are further given options of fines which are not provided for under the NDLEA Act. These options of fine have ranged from N150, 000 to N 500,000.
“Where a person caught with cocaine worth N4million is given an option, to pay a fine of N200,000 as was done in one case, what signals is the country sending to the drug barons, their couriers, our youths and the international community?
“Furthermore, because these penalties have been decided by some judges based solely on their arbitrary rather than the law, there has no consistency in the sentence passed on the various convicts with regard to the quantity of hard drugs found on them.

By: Nneka Amaechi-Nnadi, Abuja