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Significance

The amendment mandates a 15-year prison sentence -- one of the harshest in Nigeria’s legal code -- for those caught paying ransoms and death for kidnappers who kill their victims. It aims to weaken a major financing pipeline for jihadists and various armed groups generically described as ‘bandits’.

Impacts

The ability of the judicial system to counter insecurity will be hobbled by resource constraints.

The bill may increase the resentment of communities most affected by kidnappings towards the government.

Displacement caused by the banditry crisis may have a major impact on the conduct of next year's elections in northern Nigeria.

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