The Nigerian Senate has approved life imprisonment for anyone convicted of sexually defiling a minor, regardless of gender, in a move aimed at strengthening child protection laws.
The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday passed a bill prescribing life imprisonment for anyone found guilty of sexually defiling a minor, irrespective of gender.
The resolution followed a motion by Senator Adamu Aliero, who called for the “harshest possible penalty” for child defilement. “I want to propose that the punishment for defilement of minors is life imprisonment,” Aliero said.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio supported the motion, stressing that both men and women must be equally held accountable. “It doesn’t matter whether it is a woman or a man that does the defilement,” he said. “If a woman lures a minor to defile, life imprisonment. If a man lures a minor to defile, life imprisonment.”
Senator Solomon Adeola Olamilekan seconded the motion, which was unanimously adopted after Senator Adams Oshiomhole’s earlier proposal of a 20-year sentence was rejected as too lenient. Akpabio declared that the Senate “would no longer tolerate leniency or excuses” in crimes against minors.