Section 443-462 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Section 443 to 462 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act is under Chapter 42 (Offences) of the code.
Section 443 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Arson
Any person who wilfully sets fire to any of the following things‐
(a) any building or structure whatever, whether completed or not;
(b) any vessel, whether completed or not;
(c) any stack of cultivated vegetable produce, or of mineral or vegetable fuel;
(d) a mine, or the workings, fittings, or appliances of a mine,
is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life.
Section 444 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Attempts to commit arson
Any person who‐
(1) attempts unlawfully to set fire to any such thing as is mentioned in section 443 of this Code;
or
(2) wilfully and unlawfully sets fire to anything which is so situated that any such thing as is
mentioned in section 443 of this Code is likely to catch fire from it,
is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.
Section 445 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Setting fire to crops and growing plants
Any person who wilfully and unlawfully sets fire to any of the following things‐
(a) a crop of cultivated vegetable produce, whether standing or cut;
(b) a crop of hay or grass under cultivation, whether the natural or indigenous products of
the soil or not, and whether standing or cut;
(c) any standing trees, saplings, or shrubs, whether indigenous or not, under cultivation,
is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.
Section 446 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Any person who‐
(a) attempts unlawfully to set fire to any such thing as is mentioned in section 445 of this Code; or
(b) wilfully and unlawfully sets fire to anything which is so situated that any such thing as is
mentioned in section 445 of this Code is likely to catch fire from it, is guilty of felony and is liable to
imprisonment for seven years.
Section 447 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Casting away ships
Any person who‐
(1) wilfully and unlawfully casts away or destroys any vessel, whether complete or not; or
(2) wilfully and unlawfully does any act which tends to the immediate loss or destruction of a
vessel in distress; or
(3) with intent to bring a vessel into danger, interferes with any light, beacon, buoy, mark, or
signal used for purposes of navigation, or exhibits any false light or signal,
is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life.
Section 448 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Attempts to cast away ships
Any person who attempts unlawfully to cast away or destroy a vessel, whether completed or not, or
attempts unlawfully to do any act tending to the immediate loss or destruction of a vessel in distress, is
guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.
Section 449 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Obstructing and injuring railways
Any person who unlawfully and with intent to obstruct the use of a railway or to injure any property
upon a railway‐
(1) deals with the railway or with anything whatever upon or near the railway in such a manner
as to affect or endanger the free and safe use of the railway; or
(2) shows any light or signal, or in any way deal with any existing light or signal, upon or near
the railway; or
(3) by any omission to do any act which it is his duty to do, causes the free and safe use of the
railway to be endangered,
is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life.
Section 450 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Injuring animals
Any person who wilfully and unlawfully kills, maims, or wounds, any animal capable of being stolen, is
guilty of an offence.
If the animal in question is a horse, mare, gelding, ass, mule, camel, bull, cow, ox, goat, pig, ram, wether,
or ostrich, or the young of any such animal, the offender is guilty of a felony and is liable to
imprisonment for seven years.
In any other case the offender is guilty of a misdemeanor and is liable to imprisonment for two years.
Section 451 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Malicious injuries in general
Any person who wilfully and unlawfully destroys or damages any property, is guilty of an offence, which,
unless otherwise stated, is a misdemeanor and he is liable, if no other punishment is provided, to
imprisonment for two years.
Punishment in special cases
Destroying or damaging an inhabited house or a vessel with explosives
(1) If the property in question is a dwelling‐house or a vessel, and the injury is caused by the explosion
of any explosive substance, and if‐
(a) any person is in the dwelling‐house or vessel; or
(b) the destruction or damage actually endangers the life of any person,
the offender is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life.
River bank or wall, or navigation works, or bridges
(2) (a) If the property in question is a bank or wall of a river, canal, aqueduct, reservoir, or
inland water, and the injury causes actual danger of inundation or damage to any land
or building; or
(b) if the property in question is a railway, or is a bridge, viaduct, or aqueduct, which is
constructed over a highway, railway or canal, or over which a railway, highway, or canal
passes, and the property is destroyed; or
(c) if the property in question, being a railway, or being any such bridge, viaduct, or
aqueduct, is damaged, and the damage is done with intent to render the railway, bridge,
viaduct, or aqueduct, or the highway, railway, or canal passing over or under the same,
or any part thereof, dangerous or impassable, and the same or any part thereof is
thereby rendered dangerous or impassable,
the offender is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life.
Wills and registers
(3) If the property in question is a testamentary instrument, whether the testator is living or
dead, or a register which is authorised or required by law to be kept for authenticating or recording the
title to any property, or for recording births, baptisms, marriages, deaths, or burials, or a copy of any
part of any such register which is required by law to be sent to any public officer, the offender is guilty of
a felony and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.
Wrecks
(4) If the property in question is a vessel in distress or wrecked, or stranded, or anything which
belongs to such vessel, the offender is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
Railways
(5) If the property in question is any part of a railway, or any work connected with a railway, the
offender is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.
Other things of special value
(6) (a) if the property in question, being a vessel, whether complete or not, is destroyed; or
(b) if the property in question, being a vessel, whether complete or not, is damaged, and the
damage is done with intent to destroy it or render it useless; or manufacturing machine, or a
manufacturing implement, or a machine or appliance used or intended to be used for
performing any process connected with the preparation of any agricultural or pastoral produce,
is destroyed; or
(c) if the property in question is a light, beacon, buoy, mark, or signal, used for the purposes of
navigation, or for the guidance of persons engaged in navigation; or
(d) if the property in question is a bank or wall of a river, canal, aqueduct, reservoir, or inland
water, or a work which appertains to a dock, canal, aqueduct, reservoir, or inland water, or
which is used for the purposes of lading or unlading goods; or
(e) if the property in question, being a railway, or being a bridge, viaduct, or aqueduct, which is
constructed over a highway, railway or canal, or over which a highway, railway, or canal passes,
is damaged, and the damage is done with intent to render the railway, bridge, viaduct, or
aqueduct, or the highway, railway, or canal, passing over or under the same, or any part thereof,
dangerous or impassable; or
(f) if the property in question, being anything in process of manufacture, or an agricultural or an
agricultural or manufacturing machine, or a manufacturing implement, or a machine or
appliance used or intended to be used for performing any process connected with the
preparation of any agricultural or pastoral produce, is destroyed ; or
(g) if the property in question, being any such thing, machine, implement, or appliance, as last
aforesaid, is damaged, and the damage is done with intent to destroy the thing in question or to
render it useless; or
(h) if the property in question is a shaft or a passage of a mine, and the injury is done with intent to
damage the mine or to obstruct its working; or
(i) if the property in question is a machine, appliance, apparatus, building, erection, bridge, or
road, appertaining to or used with a mine, whether the thing in question is completed or not; or
(f) if the property in question, being a rope, chain, or tackle, or whatever material, which is used in
a mine, or upon any way or work appertaining to or used with a mine, is destroyed; or
(k) if the property in question, being any such rope, chain, or tackle, as last aforesaid, is damaged,
and the damage is done with intent to destroy the thing in question or to render it useless; or
(I) if the property in question is a well, or bore for water, or the dam, bank, wall, or floodgate of a
millpond or pool,
the offender is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
Deeds and records
(7) If the property in question is a document which is deposited or kept in a public office, or
which is evidence of title to any land or estate in land, the offender is guilty of a felony and is liable to
imprisonment for seven years.
Section 452 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Attempts to destroy property by explosives
Any person who, unlawfully and with intent to destroy or damage any property, puts any explosive
substance in any place whatever, is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.
*Section 453 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Attempts to injure mines
Any person who, with intent to injure a mine or to obstruct the working of a mine‐
(1) unlawfully, and otherwise than by an act done underground in the course of working an
adjoining mine‐
(a) causes water to run into the mine or into any subterranean passage communicating with the
mine; or
(b) obstructs any shaft or passage of the mine; or
(2) unlawfully obstructs the working of any machine, appliance, or apparatus, appertaining to or
used with the mine, whether the thing in question is completed or not; or
(3) unlawfully and with intent to render it useless, injures or unfastens a rope, chain, or tackle of
whatever material, which is used in the mine or upon any way or work appertaining to or used with the
mine,
is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
Section 454 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Interfering with signals used for purposes of navigation
Any person who wilfully and unlawfully removes, defaces, or renders invisible, any light, beacon, buoy,
mark or signal, used for purposes of navigation, or for the guidance of persons engaged in navigation, or
unlawfully attempts to remove, deface or render invisible, any such thing, is guilty of a felony and is
liable to imprisonment for seven years.
Section 455 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Interfering with navigation works
Any person who‐
(1) wilfully and unlawfully removes or disturbs any fixed objects or materials used for securing a
bank or wall of a river, canal, aqueduct, reservoir, or inland water, or for securing any work which
appertains to a dock, canal, aqueduct, reservoir, or inland water, or which is used for purposes of
navigation or lading or unlading goods; or
(2) unlawfully does any act with intent to obstruct the carrying on, completion, or maintenance
of the navigation of a navigable river or canal, and thereby obstructs such carrying on, completion, or
maintenance,
is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
Section 456 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Communicating infectious diseases to animals
Any person who wilfully and unlawfully causes, or is concerned in causing, or attempts to cause, any
infectious disease to be communicated to or among any animal or animals capable of being stolen, is
guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
Section 457 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Removing boundary marks with intent to defraud
Any person who wilfully and unlawfully, and with intent to defraud, removes or defaces any object or
mark which has been lawfully erected or made as an indication of the boundary of any land, is guilty of a
felony and is liable to imprisonment for three years.
Section 458 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Wilful damage, etc., to survey and boundary marks
Any person who‐
(1) wilfully removes, defaces or injures any survey mark or boundary mark which shall have
been made or erected by or under the direction of any government department or in the course of or
for the purposes of a government survey; or
(2) being under an obligation to maintain in repair any boundary mark made or erected as
aforesaid, neglects or refuses to repair the same; or
(3) wilfully removes, defaces or injures any mark erected by an intending applicant for any lease,
licence or right under the Minerals and Mining Act,
[Cap. M12.]
is guilty of a simple offence and is liable to imprisonment for three months or to a fine of forty naira, and
may further be ordered by the court to pay the cost of repairing or replacing the survey mark or
boundary mark and of making any survey rendered necessary by the offender’s act or neglect.
Section 459 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Obstructing railways
Any person who, by any unlawful act, or by any intentional omission to do any act which it is his duty to
do, causes any engine or vehicle in use upon a railway to be obstructed in its passage on the railway, is
guilty of a misdemeanor and is liable to imprisonment for two years.
Section 459A of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Obstructing aircraft
Any person who, by any unlawful act, obstructs, causes an alteration to be made in the course of, or in
any way whatsoever hinders or impedes the movement of any aircraft, which is in motion on or in flight
over any aerodrome, is guilty of a misdemeanor and is liable to imprisonment for two years.
Section 459B of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Trespass on aerodrome
Any person who commits any nuisance or trespass in or upon any aerodrome or in or upon any building
or premises situated on any aerodrome, is guilty of a simple offence and IS liable to imprisonment for
three months or to a fine of forty naira.
Section 460 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Penalties for damage, etc., to railway works
Any person who‐
(1) wilfully damages, injures, or obstructs any work, way, road, building, turnstile, gate, toll bar,
fence, weighing machine, engine, tender, carriage, wagon, truck, material, or plant acquired for
or belonging to any railway works; or
(2) pulls up, removes, defaces, or destroys, or in any way interferes with, any poles, stakes, flags,
pegs, lines, marks, or anything driven or placed in or upon the ground, trees, stones, or building,
or any other material, belonging to any railway works; or
(3) commits any nuisance or trespass in or upon any land, building, or premises, acquired for or
belonging to any railway works; or
(4) wilfully molests, hinders, or obstructs, the officer in charge of any railway or his assistants or
workmen in the execution of any work done or to be done in reference to the construction or
maintenance of any such railway,
is guilty of a simple offence and is liable to imprisonment for three months or to a fine of forty naira.
Section 461 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Sending letters threatening to burn or destroy
Any person who, knowing the contents of the writing, causes any person to receive any writing
threatening that any building or vessel, whether complete or not, or any stack of cultivated vegetable
produce, or any such produce that is in or under a building, shall be burnt or destroyed, is guilty of a
felony and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
Section 462 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Arrest without warrant
A person found committing any of the misdemeanors or simple offences defined in this Chapter of this
Code may be arrested without warrant by a peace officer or a member of the police force, or by the
owner of the property injured or his servant, or by any person authorised by such owner or servant.
