The resolution followed the Senate’s consideration of a report of the Committees on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters and Drugs and Narcotics, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Act (Amendment) Bill, 2024.

The punishment prescribed in the extant NDLEA Act is a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Section 11 of the current act prescribes that “any person who, without lawful authority; imports, manufactures, produces, processes, plants or grows the drugs popularly known as cocaine, LSD, heroin or any other similar drugs shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to be sentenced to imprisonment for life”.

The amendment, which is not yet law, replaces life imprisonment, which was previously the harshest punishment.

The news wire reports that Nigeria has in recent years gone from being a transit point for illegal drugs to a full-blown producer, consumer and distributor. Drug abuse, especially tramadol and cough syrups containing codeine, has been widespread throughout Nigeria, according to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, which banned production and import of codeine cough syrup in 2018.

While cannabis is cultivated locally, cocaine, methamphetamine and other narcotics are trafficked through the country alongside opioids to feed a growing addiction problem.

The Chairman of the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights & Legal Matters, Senator Mohammed Monguno (APC-Borno North), presented the report during Thursday’s plenary session.