Section 351-369 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Section 351 to 369 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act is under Chapter 29 (Assaults), Chapter 30 (Assaults on females: abduction) and Chapter 31 (Offences against liberty: slave dealing) of the Code.
Section 351 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Punishment of assault
Any person who unlawfully assaults another is guilty of a misdemeanor, and is liable, if no greater
punishment is provided, to imprisonment for one year.
Section 352 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Assault with intent to commit unnatural offence
Any person who assaults another with intent to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order
of nature is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.
Section 353 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Indecent assault on males
Any person who unlawfully and indecently assaults any male person is guilty of a felony and is liable to
imprisonment for three years.
The offender cannot be arrested without warrant.
Section 354 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Assaults on person protecting wrecks
Any person who unlawfully assaults and uses actual violence to a peace officer or any other person
while acting in the execution of his duty in or concerning the preservation of a vessel in distress, or of
any vessel or goods wrecked or stranded or lying under water, is guilty of a felony and is liable to
imprisonment for seven years.
Section 355 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Assaults occasioning harm
Any person who unlawfully assaults another and thereby does him harm, is guilty of a felony and is
liable to imprisonment for three years.
Section 356 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Serious assaults
Any person who(
1) assaults another with intent to commit a felony, or with intent to resist or prevent the lawful
arrest or detention of himself or of any other person; or
(2) assaults, resists, or wilfully obstructs a police officer while acting in the execution of his duty,
or any person acting in aid of a police officer while so acting; or
(3) unlawfully assaults, resists, or obstructs, any person engaged in the lawful execution of any
process against any property, or in making a lawful distress, while so engaged; or
(4) assaults, resists, or obstructs any person engaged in such lawful execution of process, or in
making a lawful distress, with intent to rescue any property lawfully taken under such process or
distress; or
(5) assaults any person on account of any act done by him in the execution of any duty imposed
on him by law; or
(6) assaults any person in pursuance of any unlawful conspiracy respecting any manufacture,
trade, business, or occupation, or respecting any person or persons concerned or employed in any
manufacture, trade, business, or occupation, or the wages of any such person or person,
is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for three years.
CHAPTER 30 – Assaults on females: abduction
Section 357 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Definition of rape
Any person who has unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman or girl, without her consent, or with her
consent, if the consent is obtained by force or by means of threats or intimidation of any kind, or by fear
of harm, or by means of false and fraudulent representation as to the nature of the act, or, in the case of
a married woman, by personating her husband, is guilty of an offence which is called rape.
Section 358 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Punishment of rape
Any person who commits the offence of rape is liable to imprisonment for life, with or without caning.
[30 of 1960.]
Section 359 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Attempt to commit rape
Any person who attempts to commit the offence of rape is guilty of a felony, and is liable to
imprisonment for fourteen years, with or without caning.
[30 of 1960.]
Section 360 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Indecent assaults on females
Any person who unlawfully and indecently assaults a woman or girl is guilty of a misdemeanor, and is
liable to imprisonment for two years.
Section 361 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Abduction
Any person who, with intent to marry or carnally know a female of any age, or to cause her to be
married, or carnally known by any other person, takes her away, or detains her against her will, is guilty
of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
Section 362 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Abduction of girls under sixteen
Any person who unlawfully takes an unmarried girl under the age of sixteen years out of the custody or
protection of her father or mother or other person having the lawful care or charge of her, and against
the will of such father or mother or other person, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and is liable to
imprisonment for two years.
Section 363 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Ignorance of age of girl, or consent, no defence
In the case of proceedings in respect of an offence under section 362 of this Code‐
(a) it is immaterial that the offender believed the girl to be of or above the age of sixteen
years;
(b) it is immaterial that the girl was taken with her own consent or at her own suggestion.
CHAPTER 31 – Offences against liberty: slave dealing
Section 364 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Kidnapping
Any person who‐
(1) unlawfully imprisons any person, and takes him out of Nigeria without his consent; or
(2) unlawfully imprisons any person within Nigeria in such a manner as to prevent him from
applying to a court for his release or from discovering to any other person the place where he is
imprisoned, or in such a manner as to prevent any person entitled to have access to him from
discovering the place where he is imprisoned,
is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for ten years.
Section 365 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Deprivation of liberty
Any person who unlawfully confines or detains another in any place against his will, or
otherwise unlawfully deprives another of his personal liberty, is guilty of a misdemeanor and is liable to
imprisonment for two years.
Section 366 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Compelling action by intimidation
Subject to the provisions of the Trade Unions Act, any person who, with intent to prevent or hinder any
other person from doing any act which he is lawfully entitled to do, or with intent to compel him to do
any act which he is lawfully entitled to abstain from doing, or to abstain from doing any act which he is
lawfully entitled to do‐
[Cap. Tl4.]
(a) threatens such other person with injury to his person, reputation, or property, or to the
person, reputation, or property of anyone in whom he is interested; or
(b) persistently follows such other person about from place to place; or
(c) hides any tools, clothes, or other property owned or used by such other person, or
deprives him of or hinders him in the use thereof; or
(d) watches or besets the house or other place where such other person resides, or works,
or carries on business, or happens to be, or the approach to such house or place; or
(e) follows such other person with two or more other persons in a disorderly manner in or
through any street or road; or
(f) induces or attempts to induce that person to believe that he, or any person in whom he
is interested, will become an object of displeasure to the Government of Nigeria or to
any person employed in the public service of Nigeria,
is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for one year.
Section 367 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Compelling action by assault
Any person who, with any of the intents in section 366 of this Code mentioned, assaults any other
person or anyone in whom he is interested, is guilty of a felony and liable to imprisonment for five years.
Section 368 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Concealment of matters affecting liberty
Any person who‐
(1) being required by law to keep any record touching any matter relating to any person in
confinement, refuses or neglects to keep such record, or makes in such record an entry which, in any
material particular, is, to his knowledge, false; or
(2) being required by law to give any information to any person touching any person in confinement, or
to show to any person, any person in confinement, or any place in which a person is confined‐
(a) refuses or neglects to give such information or to show such person or place to any person to
whom he is so required to give the information or show the person or place; or
(b) gives to any person to whom he is so required to give it, information touching any such matter
which, in any material particular, is to his knowledge, false,
is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for three years.
Section 369 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act
Slave dealing
Any person who‐
(1) deals or trades in, purchases, sells, transfers or takes any slave;
(2) deals or trades in, purchases, sells, transfers or takes any person in order or so that such
person should be held or treated as a slave;
(3) places or receives any person in servitude as a pledge or security for debt whether then due
and owing, or to be incurred or contingent, whether under the name of a pawn or by whatever other
name such person may be called or known;
(4) conveys or induces any person to come within the limits of Nigeria in order or so that such
person should be held, possessed, dealt or traded in, purchased, sold, or transferred as a slave, or be
placed in servitude as a pledge or security for debt;
(5) conveys or sends or induces any person to go out of the limits of Nigeria in order or so that
such person should be possessed, dealt or traded in, purchased, sold, or transferred as a slave, or be
placed in servitude as a pledge or security for debt;
(6) whether or not a citizen of Nigeria holds or possesses in Nigeria any person as a slave;
(7) enters into any contract or agreement with or without consideration for doing any of the
acts or accomplishing any of the purposes herein above enumerated, is guilty of slave dealing and is
liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.
