Worried by the harsh economic realities which have rendered many homes unable to afford a square meal, Cross River state governor, Ben Ayade has proposed a bill seeking to protect the rights of street hawkers in the state. The governor who is also conscious of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which the state has since domesticated, said the proposed bill to be known as hawkers protection bill, will allow only adults of 18 years and above in reflective vest to hawk at designated time and locations to guarantee survival devoid of violation.

The aim of the law according to the governor, is to protect the rights of the down trodden and change the economic fortunes of poor households as well as bring dignity to Africa’s most populous form of trading.

Governor Ayade who disclosed this in Calabar, while signing the homeland security service bill and eight others into law said “this one bill after my heart, which I must ensure its enactment and implementation within the shortest possible time.”

“The supremacy of government does not allow it to know the agony of the down trodden which is why hawking is being prohibited and hawkers subjected to merciless whips at all times by law enforcement agents.

“Why must we deny a man or woman the right to earn a living simply because he or she does not have money to rent a shop? “Hawking is an African thing and we cannot shy away from the fact that at some point in our lives, we have been at our lowest levels. Personally, I have hawked before,” he said. He said it was wrong to prohibit hawking outright, given the circumstances most Nigerians have found themselves.
Ayade also said the bill is key to Cross River state government which only needs to be regulated to work. Offering further insight, Ayade explained, “we want a law that will make hawking legal and provide clear terms and conditions under which you can hawk. I will provide specific hawking corridors to protect the rights of the down trodden.

“It is unheard off, that a tourism state will encourage hawking but I assure you that we will by this new bill modernize hawking and make it more attractive in a manner that many will take to it even for leisure.”

However, speaking about his personal life and enunciating some of the benefits he derived while as a hawker, he said, “my childhood poverty that made me hawk has today contributed immensely to my intellect, strength, capacity and sanity that made me understand, in spite of my today’s position, that I still have humility which is why God has charged me to be a vehicle for the protection of the poor.