Senate moves to overhaul terror law as kidnapping crisis deepens
The Nigerian Senate has taken its first formal step toward rewriting the country’s terrorism laws after lawmakers introduced a bill aimed at imposing far tougher penalties on kidnappers, including the death sentence. The proposal, sponsored by Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, was read for the first time today—coming barely a day after senators erupted in anger over the worsening wave of abductions nationwide.
During Wednesday’s heated debate, lawmakers agreed that kidnapping had become so widespread and violent that it should now be treated as terrorism, with the harshest possible punishment. Today’s bill is expected to trigger a full legal overhaul as Nigeria struggles to contain a security crisis marked by mass abductions, school attacks, and brazen raids by heavily armed criminal gangs.
In a separate move, the Senate has set up an 18-member ad hoc committee to probe the Safe School Initiative, following increasing doubts about how the programme’s funds have been managed. Senator Orji Kalu was appointed to lead the investigation, alongside members such as Tony Nwoye, Yemi Adaramodu, Harry Ipalibo, Ede Dafinone, Mustapha Saliu, Diket Plang and others. The committee was created after senators questioned why schools remain so vulnerable despite years of funding.
Their frustration intensified after gunmen stormed the Government Comprehensive Girls Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi State, killing the vice principal and abducting 25 students. Only days earlier, attackers invaded St Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri, Niger State, seizing more than 300 children and teachers. Similar incidents have rattled communities in Kwara, Kano and Borno.
President Bola Tinubu has responded by declaring a nationwide security emergency, ordering fresh recruitment into the armed forces and police, and directing security agencies to convert NYSC camps into training centres. He also instructed that police officers attached to VIPs be withdrawn for immediate retraining, insisting they must be redeployed to the frontline where they are urgently needed. The DSS has likewise been authorised to deploy trained forest guards to hunt down armed groups hiding in remote territories.