The said law makes it an offence for kidnapped victims or their relatives to pay ransom to their abductors.

The Senate claimed that the law will “prevent terrorist groups from laundering money.”
Before its passage, the bill received an overwhelming support from the senators.

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan believes that the new law can “turn around not only the security situation in Nigeria, but even the economic fortunes of our country.”

But Nigerians – activists, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), socio-cultural organisations, among others – have continued to see things differently.

Perspectives to the law

Providing an insight, a lawyer, Dennis Azeke, noted that “by the time you keep throwing money at kidnappers, the ill will continue to blossom. It becomes a bigger industry for the criminals. Worldwide, responsible countries have known this. So, some have legislated on it.

“The US has the executive order discouraging payment of ransom.

“But the government still uses its agencies like the FBI to find a way to negotiate with terrorists and meet their demands – especially when they cannot find a way to rescue their kidnapped citizens, whether they are held by kidnappers for money or for political reasons.

“But in our case, the idea is to make payment of ransom non-lucrative for the kidnappers.

“But practically, is it workable in the Nigerian set up? The question again is do we have the instrumentality to enforce the law we are talking about? The answer is no.

“For those in government, when their top persons are kidnapped, they still use third parties to pay ransom.”

Spirit and morality of law

Meanwhile, Azeke and Yusufu Alli (SAN) have been reflecting on the morality or otherwise of the law.

According to Azeke, “the idea of the law is that kidnapping is illegal and not permissible.

“Therefore, we cannot be talking about morality here.”

He admitted that law and morality can meet and can also diverge. “But what is moral, might be legal, and what is legal might not be moral.”

In his contention, Mr Alli noted that “there is nothing moral or immoral about the amended law.”

To him, “it is simply a law.”

He, however, expressed concern that the Senate had enacted a law that is non-implementable, cautioning that it is against the spirit of the law to have legislation “that will be hard to implement.”

To buttress his point, he asked: “If someone is kidnapped, how do you monitor that ransom has been paid before the individual is released?”

Azeke equally shared Alli’s view by declaring: “Yes, the law is good. But is it implementable; does it make any impact? The answer is no – because we have weak institutions, weak security agencies, weak judiciary agency – to enforce such a law.”

He also raised other fears. “Now, when those who are to arrest the bandits – as we are hearing recently – are part of the terrorists helping them to push the kidnapping agenda, what faith do we have in those we are relying on to help push this law?”

But Is this really what Nigerians want