Senate passes amendment to extradition law for second reading

The Senate on Tuesday passed for second reading, the amendment to the Extradition Act, 2004.

In his lead debate, the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti-Central), said in the proposed law, Section 2 (1) and Section 7(4) of the Act are to be amended.

He explained that in Section 2, the “Act is amended to allow Nigeria to accede to extradition requests from countries with which Nigeria has signed an extradition treaty – as opposed to only commonwealth countries, as is the case today.

“The present position of the Act applies only to countries within the Commonwealth and any other country with whom Nigeria establishes an extradition treaty or arrangement.”

The proposed amendment in Section 7 of the Act is “to properly set out the procedure for issuance of warrants of arrest for effective execution of extradition requests.”

Giving further information about the extradition law, Opeyemi said it’s “the legislation that governs the process by which Nigeria can request and obtain the surrender of a person from another jurisdiction, who is accused or convicted of a criminal offence outside the requesting jurisdiction’s territory.”

He added, “The Act is today set for amendment to ensure compliance with Nigeria’s obligation to the international bodies in the fight against Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing and also to ensure the delisting of Nigeria by the International Country Risk Guide from the grey list through compliance.”

The Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, presided over the proceedings.

The bill secured a majority voice vote and was referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Human Rights.

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives are working on the bill at the same time.

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