The Cross River House of Assembly has passed 101 bills and over 340 motions, since its inauguration in 2015, Mr John Gaul-Lebohe, the Speaker, said on Tuesday.
The speaker, who disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar, said 38 out of the 139 bills proposed were at various stages on the floor of the House.
“From June 2015 when we assumed office till date, the Cross River House of Assembly has proposed a total of about 139 bills and taken 340 motions.
“101 of these bills have been signed into law by the state government, while 38 are still being considered.
“The Cross River House of Assembly was rated the best by the Legislative Institute of Nigeria for the 2015/2016 legislative year.
“If you check the Institute of Legislative Studies of Nigeria, I think we are the only House of Assembly with the highest number of bills passed so far,’’ he said.
Gaul-Lebo added that Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River had given assent to over 90 per cent of the bills, which were people-oriented and meant to provide safe social services for the citizenry.
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, Corporate Social Responsibility bill, and Social Housing Scheme bill, among others.
The speaker added that the 2019 state budget of N1.043 trillion tagged ‘Budget of Qabalistic Densification’ had also been passed and forwarded to the governor for his assent.
He said that the house under his leadership created the Legislative Direction Framework for 2015-2019 and highlighted the first item, that at least 100 bills be proposed to set a record in the state and Nigeria.
“Within my legislative direction, I thought that we also needed to support the state government to have Legislative Purpose Vehicles that can help to develop the state industrial sector and today we can see the number of industries in the state.
“We have a robust working relationship with the judiciary and executive arms in the state such that for the first time, the judiciary sponsored a bill through the Administration of Criminal Justice Law.
“That relationship has worked out well. We try to ensure that there is a clear understanding and workings among all the arms.
“A lot of people in this clime believe that once the executive and the legislature are working together, then the legislators are called rubber stamp,” he said.
He said that the constitution states clearly roles of each of the arms, saying “should there be anyone that do not want the executive and legislature to work in harmony, then, they should change the constitution.
“The constitution is designed around the relationship management framework between the executive, legislature and the judiciary.
“If as speaker, I cannot create a good relationship with the executive, then I will destroy the state and plunge it into pandemonium,’’ he said.
