The red chamber also proposed a 10-year jail term for “any person who detains a man or woman, a boy or girl against their will in order to have unlawful canal knowledge of him/her in any place.”


The Senate said such a person would be found guilty of a felony and would be liable for 10 years’ imprisonment without an option of fine.


The proposals were made following a debate on a bill for concurrence transmitted to the Senate by the House of Representatives during plenary.


The bill is titled “Criminal Code Act Amendment Bill 2025.” The lead debate on the bill was presented by Senate leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, APC, Ekiti Central.


Senate President Godswill Akpabio said the bill, if passed and assented to by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, would ensure that “consent is immaterial as far as you are dealing with a minor.”
“Any defilement of a minor should carry life imprisonment,” he added.

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However, the Senate later stepped down the bill following technicalities on the issue of supplies of drugs and instruments for abortions and referred the bill to its committee on judiciary and legal matters to study and revert within two weeks.


The Senate also stepped down another bill for concurrence, which was on the establishment of a school of nursing and midwifery in Ondo State, pointing to the suspension of the creation of new tertiary institutions by the Federal Executive Council, FEC, recently.

The red chamber, however, passed two other concurrence bills – the Federal Road Safety Bill 2025 and the Dieticians Council Establishment Bill 2025.

Source: The Nation