Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben
Ayade, monday signed into law a bill
that prescribes death penalty for
convicted kidnappers in the state.
The anti-kidnapping bill was one of
10 bills the governor signed into law
at the state Executive Chambers
witnessed by the Speaker and
members of the state House of
Assembly, the chairman of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the
state, Ntufam John Okon and the
Secretary to the State Government,
Mrs. Tina Agbor and permanent
secretaries.
The law also empowers the state to
seize assets as well as freeze accounts
belong to convicted kidnappers and
those who aid and abet kidnapping in
the state.
Speaking on another bill he had just
signed into law, the Social Housing
Law, which makes housing for the
vulnerable a right, he described the
law as holding emotional significance
to him.
“The most emotional bill to me is the
Social Housing Law which seeks to
provide housing for the poorest of the
poor in the state.
Various researches have linked
corruption in civil service to housing.
It has also been proven that given the
salaries of average civil servants, if
they don’t originate memos that give
them extra money, if they don’t
comprise, they is no civil servant in
Nigeria that will be able to build a
house. So by virtue of our salary
structure, you have already created a
catalyst for corruption to thrive.
“By this bill, housing in Cross River
State is now a right to the citizenry, it
may not be justiciable at this point in
time but we have created a legal
stimulus to drive the structure that
we can achieve housing for
everybody, and in the process, stamp
out all mud and thatch houses in
Cross River State.”
As a measure aimed at generating
revenue for the state from its
abundant water resources despite
being pronounced a non-littoral state
by the Supreme Court following the
loss of Bakassi Peninsula, the
governor signed the Water Landing
and Fee Charges bill into law.
“When the Supreme Court ruling said
that Cross River State is hemmed in,
and by implication we ceased to be a
littoral state, we are today
demonstrating with a simple law that
that ruling was wrong because the
implication of that ruling is that
whatever waterways that exist within
the confines of the state is internal
and therefore cannot be covered
under the Inland Waterways of
Nigeria.
So we have the right to regulate it.
“We are going to place a maximum
figure on any vessel coming into
Cross River waterways. So when it
becomes an affront to the federal
government they will revisit the
ruling.”
Other laws signed by the governor
include: Infrastructure Safety and
Regulatory Law, Water Front
Management and Development Law,
Corporate Social Responsibility
Agency Law and Tax Exemption Law
for low income earners.
Speaker of the State House of
Assembly, Hon John Gaul Lebo, who
described the legislature as the
incubator of leadership said the bills
were thought of to help the
government better the lot of Cross
Riverians.
He said it was quite impressive that
in just three months the House is able
to turn in10 bills adding that the
development was an indication that
the vision of the governor is so clear
that the assembly was able to
translate it into laws.
He promised the collaboration of the
legislature with the executive to
ensure that the PDP- led government
in the state succeeds.
No comments:
Post a Comment