Cross River Legalizes Death Penalty For Kidnappers

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.