Passenger's Manifest Bill To Check Criminality, Boost IGR
By Ekanem Asuquo
The member representing Obubra 1 State Constituency in the Cross River State House of Assembly, Hon Ovat Agbor has disclosed that the passenger's manifest bill pending passage by the 10th Assembly is intended to curtail influx of criminal elements into the state, track child tackifiers while boosting the internal revenue index of the state.
The lawmaker who is the sponsor of the bill explained that "Once that bill becomes a law after due consideration and assent, it would create job opportunities for teeming youths, rake in huge revenue into government's coffers and provide security outfits with a database to track down fleeing suspects"
Hon Agbor, who doubles as the House Committee Chairman on Industry, PPP and Privatization dropped the hint with exchanging views with newsmen in Calabar expressed dismay that despite the huge economic and security advantages, Cross River is amongst the few states in country without the scheme.
According to him, "The inherent benefits of the passenger’s manifest scheme is overwhelming. To begin, it checkmates the growing challenge of child trafficking on our land and water ways because it will arm our security agencies with official government backed document for interrogating suspicious movement, stop fleeing criminals from taking shelter in the state while also monitoring the movement of individuals with questionable characters.
" The revenue yielding potentials is massive and this in turn will assist government in ensuring smooth implementation of the current infrastructure transformation drive meant to restore the loss of our dear state. The manifest will enable government to get the personal data of all those entering or leaving the state and such information is useful in connecting with family members especially in emergency situations"
On the perennial communal clashes synonymous with Obubra, the lawmaker called for stringent proactive measures to nib such crisis in the bud, explaining that once the government can establish a standard procedure of prosecuting community leaders comprising head of youth groups, town council leaders and royal fathers found culpable in fueling this recurring mayhem, such step would send the right signal needed to forestall reoccurrence.
Hon. Ovat Agbor lamented the marginalization of Obubra in the political arena, stressing that despite the historical antecedents of the old Obubra which gave birth to all the local government areas in Cross River Central and beyond, Obubra remains the local government in the senatorial district yet to produce speaker for the state assembly or senator.
He expressed optimism that under the present dispensation, God would use our amiable Governor, Senator Bassey Out, who is a stickler for fairness and equity to redress this terrible injustice.
