Life imprisonment for child defilement in Nigeria approved

News Update

THE Senate has approved a stiffer penalty of life imprisonment for the offence of defiling a minor.

The offence currently attracts a jail term of five years.

But, in an amendment proposed to the Criminal Code Act under a new bill, “Criminal Code Act (Amendment) Bill, 2025”, the Senate has increased the penalty to life imprisonment, “without an option of fine.”

The Red Chamber of the National Assembly considers the defilement of minors to be a very “grievous offence” capable of “destroying” the life of the child for forever, hence the offender must suffer a punishment of the same magnitude.

The House of Representatives, which initially passed the amendment bill, forwarded it to the Senate for concurrence.

But, going through the bill on Tuesday, senators recommended stiffer penalties for defilement, rape and other offences.

“Defilement is even more serious than rape. It is a very serious issue and should carry more punishment”, President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, said as senators unanimously voted to approve the life imprisonment clause.

Akpabio added, “Any defilement of a minor in Nigeria henceforth, the punishment is life imprisonment.
Let everyone be aware.”

A stiffer punishment was also proposed for rape or any act of forcing a boy, man, girl or woman for sex without their consent, whether in a brothel or any premises.

While the extant law prescribes a five-year jail sentence as punishment, the Senate has raised the penalty to a “minimum of 10 years in the first instance.”

Former Governor of Kebbi State, Senator Adamu Aliero, originally suggested life imprisonment for rape, but the Senate, in ruling on the matter, adopted 10 years as the minimum jail term.

In the new proposal, Clause 2(1), reads, “Any person who detains a man or boy, a girl or a woman against his or her will in any premises in order to have unlawful canal knowledge of him or her; in a brothel or any place, commits a felony and attracts a minimum jail term of 10 years, on conviction.”

The bill in the original format seemed to imply that only a female could be raped or women are more likely to be rape victims.

However, former National President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Senator Adams Oshiomhole, rose to observe that boys and men were in modern times, also victims of rape.

He said the rapist could be a male raping a male, a male raping a female, a female raping a female or female raping a male.

On the strength of Oshiomhole’s observations, the Senate couched the clause to reflect boys, men, girls and women.

Meanwhile, further consideration of the bill was stood down temporarily as it was referred to the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to report back within two weeks.

The committee is to thoroughly review the provisions on pregnancy and abortion procurement and advise the Senate accordingly on the penalties to approve.

In the principal bill, abortion is not only punishable but all those who supply or procure tools, including drugs, to terminate a pregnancy, are liable.

Senators, however, called for a more cautious approach, noting that there could be implications for medical emergencies or where the life of the pregnant woman was at risk.

For instance, Senator Abdul Ningi, said the new bill must clearly define when an abortion would be considered to be “unlawful”, adding that when left in the current vague form, health providers might become helpless when they need to save a life through abortion.

“Mr President, if left this way, it is dangerous”, Ningi warned.

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The Senate, agreeing in unison, gave two weeks to the committee to take a proper look at the pregnancy/abortion clause and guide it in passing the appropriate penalties.

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