Cross River House of Assembly has granted Gov. Ben Ayade’s request for the appointment of 70 more Special Advisers to assist in government functions.
The governor had in December 2019 appointed 70 aides and the new appointees would increase the number of political aides to 140.
The correspondence, addressed to the House, dated, Feb. 20, was signed by the Secretary to State Government, Mrs Tina Agbor, and read on the floor of the House by the Clerk, Mr Bassey Ekpenyong, on Wednesday in Calabar.
The House in a motion, filed by its leader, Mr Peter Odey, and seconded by the Deputy Leader, Mr Fred Osim, unanimously resolved and granted consequential approval to the request.
Odey said the approval was based on the Assembly’s earlier request to Ayade through writing, on the need to cover other constituencies not yet considered in the appointments.
Also at plenary, the bill for the creation of “Cross River State Consumer Protection Agency 2020” scaled through second reading.
The sponsor of the bill and member representing Etung State Constituency, Mr Chris Mbu-Ogar, said the bill intended to regulate, control as well as monitor the profits of the producers against the final consumer.
“Distinguished colleagues, this bill is necessary at this moment because it will check the excesses of fake and expired products in the state, which have dominated the markets.
“Cross River people die daily as a result of what is consumed; this bill seeks to protect what we consume,” he said.
Members who contributed on the bill said it would check the attitude of some food vendors who exposed food publicly, sold along dirty gutters as well as turned Cross River into a market for substandard products.
The members further observed that the Consumer Protection law passed by the Federal Government was not doing enough in the state.
They called on the state government to engage the services of people of proven integrity and technical expertise to manage the agency at the state level for optimal result.
The Speaker of the House, Mr Eteng Jonah-Williams, committed the bill to the Committee on Health, with a mandate to report back to the House in two weeks. (NAN)
