{"id":693,"date":"2022-05-25T22:00:20","date_gmt":"2022-05-25T22:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citywatch.ng\/nigerias-senate-passes-bill-to-bar-kidnap-ransom-payments-abc-news\/"},"modified":"2022-05-25T22:00:20","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T22:00:20","slug":"nigerias-senate-passes-bill-to-bar-kidnap-ransom-payments-abc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citywatch.ng\/?p=693","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria&#039;s Senate passes bill to bar kidnap ransom payments &#8211; ABC News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nigerian lawmakers have passed legislation to bar the payment of kidnap ransoms at a time when the West African nation is struggling to stem the rise of armed violence and kidnaps for ransom in its troubled northwest and central regions<br \/><span class=\"\">ANAMBRA, Nigeria &#8212; <\/span>Nigerian lawmakers have taken steps to bar the payment of ransoms to kidnappers at a time when thousands are in captivity, including passengers kidnapped during a train attack in late March near the nation&#x27;s capital.<br \/>Nigeria\u2019s Senate has passed a bill amending the country\u2019s Terrorism Prevention Act to bar the ransom payments. It said the amendment will \u201cprevent terrorist groups from laundering money.\u201d <br \/>However, the legislation could cause more harm to kidnap victims and their families if the bill is signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, activists and Amnesty International\u2019s <a class=\"uOtk efBMc LIsPj wIScF\" id=\"_ap_link_Nigeria_Nigeria_\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/alerts\/Nigeria\" rel=\"noopener\">Nigeria<\/a> office told The Associated Press on Thursday.<br \/>The West African nation has struggled to stem the rise of armed violence in its troubled northwest, and central regions where remote communities are often targeted by armed groups. <br \/>Thousands have been killed in the violence, data from the U.S.-based Council on Foreign Relations shows, while travelers are often abducted and kept in detention for weeks usually in forest reserves until ransoms are paid for their release.<br \/>The kidnap-for-ransom business is a lucrative enterprise with over $18 million paid to kidnappers between 2011 and 2020, according to Lagos-based SBM intelligence research firm.<br \/>Nigeria&#x27;s federal authorities have been trying to target the practice for some time. Earlier this month, federal authorities barred calls from more than 70 million unregistered lines in an attempt to target kidnappers and make it difficult for them to contact the families of those held.<br \/>When the bill passed on Wednesday becomes a law, it can \u201cturn around not only the security situation in Nigeria but even the economic fortunes of our country,\u201d said Nigeria Senate President Ahmad Lawan.<br \/>\u201cWe have done so much as a government in terms of infrastructural development in all parts of this country, but because the security situation is not the kind of situation that we all want, this tends to overshadow most of these tremendous and remarkable developments in our country,\u201d said Lawan.<br \/>However, activists say the proposed law does not address \u201cthe root cause\u201d of Nigeria\u2019s security problems and endangers the lives of those kidnapped.<br \/>\u201cIf you cannot protect people, why then are you punishing them for finding a way to protect themselves?\u201d asked Festus Ogun, a Nigerian lawyer and human rights activist.<br \/>The bill also creates \u201cmore opportunities for further violations of people\u2019s rights,\u201d Osai Ojigho, Nigeria director of Amnesty International told AP. She identified the \u201clack of resources\u201d for security forces to investigate and prosecute crimes as a big challenge in Nigeria\u2019s quest for peace.<br \/>Authorities should instead focus on \u201cthe root cause\u201d of the kidnappings rather than \u201ccriminalizing family members who are distressed\u201d by the abduction of their loved ones,\u201d Ojigho said.<br \/>24\/7 coverage of breaking news and live events<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/International\/wireStory\/nigerias-senate-passes-bill-bar-kidnap-ransom-payments-84367591\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nigerian lawmakers have passed legislation to bar the payment of kidnap ransoms at a time when the West African nation is struggling to stem the rise of armed violence and kidnaps for ransom in its troubled northwest and central regionsANAMBRA, Nigeria &#8212; Nigerian lawmakers have taken steps to bar the payment of ransoms to kidnappers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.5 (Yoast SEO v25.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Nigeria&#039;s Senate passes bill to bar kidnap ransom payments - ABC News - City Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/citywatch.ng\/?p=693\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nigeria&#039;s Senate passes bill to bar kidnap ransom payments - ABC News City Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nigeria&#039;s Senate passes bill to bar kidnap ransom payments - ABC News City Watch %\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/citywatch.ng\/?p=693\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"City Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/web.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100083282987806\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-25T22:00:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/citywatch.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/wp-header-logo-149.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"992\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"558\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citywatch.ng\/?p=693#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citywatch.ng\/?p=693\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citywatch.ng\/#\/schema\/person\/6f3e02bc6483df72f5abc6e9624d0cc8\"},\"headline\":\"Nigeria&#039;s Senate passes bill to bar kidnap ransom payments &#8211; 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