Cross River Assembly Passes 40 bills, Initiates 30 Motions—Speaker

The Cross River House of Assembly has passed 40 bills and initiated over 30 motions between June 2015 till date.

Mr John Gaul-Lebo, the Speaker of the House,  disclosed this in Calabar on Sunday during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He explained that the assembly had proposed 76 bills, adding that 40 have been passed while 36 were currently at various stages in the floor of the house.

He listed some of the bills to include Cross River Infrastructure Development Fund bill; Greater Calabar City Development bill; Water Front Infrastructure Agency bill; Kidnapping Prohibition Bill and Social Housing Scheme bill among others.

“During the period under review, from June 2015 that we assume office till date, the Cross River House of Assembly has proposed a total of 76 bills.

“40 of these bills have been passed into law while 36 are still being considered. We are looking at passing 50 bills into law before June 11, 2017 that will make us two years in office.

“The Cross River House of Assembly was rated the best in terms of legislative work by the Legislative Institute of Nigeria for the 2015/ 2016 legislative year.

“If you check the Institute of Legislative Studies in Nigeria, I think we are the only house of assembly with the highest number of bills passed so far, “ he said.

The speaker maintained that most of the bills were people-oriented and meant to provide safety social services for the citizenry.

He said that the  2017/2018 legislative year would support the reconstruction of the state’s economy through provision of legislations to attract internally generated revenues.

The Speaker attributed the successes recorded by the assembly to the sustained cordial working relationship between the legislature and the executive.

He added that no meaningful achievement can be recorded when the two arms of government are at loggerhead.

On the 2017 national budget of N7.44 trillion, the Speaker said it would improve on the socio-economic well being and overall development of the country.