The Senate yesterday proposed life imprisonment without an option of fine for anyone convicted of defiling a minor.

This is part of sweeping amendments to the Criminal Code Act (Amendment) Bill 2025. The offence currently attracts a jail term of five years.

According to the Upper House, a stiffer penalty was necessary to deter offenders and protect children from sexual abuse, which it described as “a grievous crime capable of destroying a child’s life forever”.

The bill, which originated from the House of Representatives and was sent to the Senate for concurrence, seeks to overhaul several provisions of the nation’s criminal code to address contemporary realities.

The legislators unanimously voted to approve the life sentence clause for the offence of defilement.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who presided over the session, said: “Defilement is even more serious than rape. “It is a very serious issue and should carry the most severe punish – ment.

Any defilement of a minor in Nigeria henceforth, attracts life imprisonment. Let everyone be aware.”

The Senate also increased the penalty for rape and other forms of forced sexual intercourse, whether involving male or female victims, to a minimum of 10 years in prison.

Although Senator Adamu Aliero proposed life imprisonment for rape, the chamber resolved to fix 10 years as the minimum sentence upon conviction.

Clause 2(1) of the new bill states: “Any person who detains a man or boy, a girl or a woman against his or her will in any premises to have unlawful carnal knowledge of him or her, commits a felony and shall be liable to imprisonment for not less than 10 years.”

Senator Adams Oshiomhole drew the attention of his colleagues to the need to recognize that rape victims could be male or female, arguing that the law should reflect this reality.

He said: “The rapist could be a male raping a male, a male raping a female, a female raping a female, or a female rapping a male.”