The recent approval of death sentence by the Senate as a penalty for some drug-related offences is too harsh and inappropriate, and should, therefore, be reversed. As reported in the media, voting on the weighty matter was hurriedly done; not allowing a clear decision for or against the issue to be made.
This prompted Senator Adams Oshiomhole to dispute the outcome. He argued, rightly, that such a matter of life and death should not be treated in a hurry. We cannot agree more. The point must not be lost too that the House Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, and Legal Matters that deliberated on the matter did not recommend the death penalty. It is worrisome, therefore, that such a decision could be proposed and passed somewhat casually by the upper chamber. It bears repeating, this is a wrong decision.
Section 11 of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Act prescribes on conviction ‘imprisonment for life’ for ‘any person who, without lawful authority, imports, manufactures, produces, plants, or grows the drugs popularly known as cocaine, LSD, heroine, or any other similar drugs…’. The same punishment awaits anyone, who ‘exports, transports, or otherwise traffics’ in these drugs, or ‘sells, buys, exposes or offers for sale or otherwise deals’ in them. On the other hand, the NDLEA law prescribes a much lesser 15 to 25-year imprisonment for convicted users of the illegal drugs ostensibly because they are victims of the profit-motivated manufacturers and distributors. Senator Tahir Monguno remarked, correctly, that “the havoc being created by substance and drug abuse…, if not nipped in the bud has the potential of destroying the future of this country because it is the majority of the youth that are engaged in drug and substance abuse …’
Indeed, the cost to society of drug abuse ranges from the danger to individual health, through the deterioration of human capital, to the decline of economic productivity by an addicted and progressively disoriented and incapable citizenry. Drug abusers are least likely to acquire and utilise the education and skills necessary to make them useful to themselves and to their community. Joblessness and crime are consequences of drug abuse. Even in the political aspect, persons addicted to drugs are incapable of good judgement and wise voting decision that can enthrone credible leaders and in turn assure good governance.
In view of the social costs of these offences, stiff punishment for the manufacture of dangerous drugs is quite understandable and a lifetime behind bars should be sufficient. Even then, the question may be asked: does this sufficiently serve as deterrence?
Breaches of the law are reported so frequently as to question the efficacy of the provision. In 2023, NDLEA statistics show ‘13,664 arrests, leading to the seizure of 1,606,799.09 kilograms of assorted illicit drugs, and 3,412 convictions, with a total of 5,570 offenders charged to court’. In August last year, it reported the discovery of a warehouse at the Trade Fair Complex in Lagos housing various types of ‘psychoactive substance’ with a street value of N4.8 billion.
Lately, on May 12, 2024, the agency reported the arrest of a 75-year old man in Ekiti State and another 70-year-old woman in Benue State for dealing in cannabis. It further reported that 11,636.185 kg of cannabis were destroyed in a forest in Edo State as three trailer loads of opioids were intercepted in the Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State. In Adamawa State in the northern part of the country, 59,106 pills of tramadol, various quantities of codeine syrup and rohypol were intercepted along the Mubi-Yola Road.
More laws and tougher sanctions are indicators of a jurisdiction where law enforcement is ineffective and the rule of law does not rule. A nation, it is said, is about to perish that makes the most laws. The federal legislature must recognise this fact, think deeper on why the existing provision in the NDLEA Act is not working, and come up with better ideas to make this and indeed all statutes work.
There are other reasons against the death penalty in general. First, it is irreversible in case of a miscarriage of justice. In the words of Avocat Sans Frontieres-France, ‘this lack of flexibility can lead to a plethora of wrongful executions and miscarriages of justice, which can never be reversed’. Indeed, this is one reason that The Guardian as a corporate body holds a principled opposition to death penalty for drug-related offences.
The morality-based consideration is arguably a factor in the reluctance of many of Nigeria’s state governors to sign the warrants of execution. According to the Nigerian Correctional Services, there were, as at December 2023, 3,413 inmates on death row.
Second, the death penalty is increasingly becoming unacceptable across the globe as a condign punishment of any civilised people. The late President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, is even said to have remarked with not a little satisfaction that his country joined the community of civilised nations the day South Africa abolished the death penalty. In 2023, the UN passed a resolution against it, and the ASF-France Country Director, Angela Uwandu Uzoma-Iwuchuckwu, rightly, reminded the Senate of this.
Third, Nigeria condemned Indonesia for executing Nigerians for drug-related offences in 2015; it should not now regress into creating a similar ‘anti-life’ law. In any case, capital punishment for dealing in drugs as provided for in the statute of some other counties, especially in south-east Asia has not stopped the commission of the offence.
It is gratifying that the Senate’s hasty decision is not final; it is subject to concurrence by the House of Representatives and assent by the President. We strongly and unequivocally urge that both vote for life and reject this ‘anti-life’ bill.
