The Cross River State governor, Prof Ben Ayade, has sent a Hawkers’ Right Bill to the State House of Assembly in a bid to legalize hawking in the state.
Ayade, in an interaction with reporters in his office in Calabar said it is insensitive for a government to ban hawking without any alternative.
His words, “I have just sent the Hawkers’ Right Bill to the House of Assembly, to provide a right for hawking. You cannot tell a man not to sell his goods because he does not have money to rent a store. And you tell the man not to steal? Just provide a regulatory framework; there should be reflective outfits, there should be a minimum age of 18 to hawk, you will have a time frame when you come out so that you don’t constitute nuisance. But to prohibit hawking is to tell a man I don’t want to give you food, and I don’t want you to steal. It is unfair. They have right to seek and determine how they chose to live within the ambits of the law.
“Cross River would the first state that would officially recognize hawking. The core mandate of a leader should be the social security of his people. If a man choses to hawk, if you are government that is sensitive and understands the real principle and objective of the law, then you will know that the hawker has a right. Governance is about how you protect the weakest in the society and that is why even with the way things are, Cross River is still doing tax exemption for the poor.”