Cross
River state government makes some move to legalise street hawking in the state
– The state governor, Ben Ayade sent Hawking Rights Bill to the House of
Assembly Cross River state governor, Ben Ayade, has restated his commitment to legalise
street hawking if his bill before the state House of Assembly is passed.
The governor, who disclosed this
while briefing newsmen at the executive chambers in Calabar, on Sunday, August
28, said that the state government will be the first to officially license
hawking in the country as he awaits the approval of the bill by the state House
of Assembly.
Ayade said: ”I have sent the Hawking Rights Bill to the House of Assembly to provide a regulatory framework that will provide the right to hawk.
”You cannot tell a man not to sell
his goods on the streets because he cannot rent a store, yet you tell the man
not to steal. You just have to provide a regulatory framework because to prohibit
hawking is to tell a man that you don’t want him to eat.
”We are making
provisions for a hawkers’ corridor. There must be a minimum age, you must be 18
and they must be seen to be properly dressed with reflective vests. They must
have a time zone of when they come out, so as to be able to make optimal sales
because we don’t want them to constitute nuisance in the environment.”
Vanguard reports that Ayade said he
was desperate to make a difference. He said Cross Riverians have a right to
make an honest living within the ambit of the law, as there was no crime in
making legitimate earnings from hawking as long as it was done under an
effective regulatory framework.
