The Rivers State House of Assembly (RVHA), has warned companies operating in the state against unconditional retrenchments and severance of workers without benefits.
The Leader of the House, Hon. Martin C. Amaewhule, who gave the warning yesterday, while addressing protesters of National Association of Plant Operators (NAPO) against the retrenchment of its members by Daewoo Construction Company in Port Harcourt, said no company would be allowed to maltreat citizens of the state and go scot free.
Amaewhule, who tasked the association to submit official petition against the company to the House, assured the protesters that the House will do justice to the matter without delay.
He thanked the members of the association for their peaceful demonstration instead of resorting to causing crisis in the state.
According to him, the House will take over the matter and address it to its logical conclusion with the company.
It would be recalled that some retrenched workers of Daewoo Construction Company, under the umbrella of National Association of Plant Operators, an affiliate of Trade Union Congress (TUC) embarked on a peaceful protest to the Rivers State House of Assembly with a plea for help over an alleged unconditional retrenchment and maltreatment of its members by the company.
Speaking on behalf of the workers, the Acting President of the NAPO, Rivers State chapter, Comrade Harold Bristol, told the House of Assembly, that the Daewoo Company sacked some of the members of the association without any severance benefits as enshrined in the agreement between the company and the workers.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State House of Assembly, yesterday, read a bill for a law to raise penalties and punishment for any person who commits any offence of rape, marital maltreatment and other related offences on women, child and less privileged in the state.
The bill before the House also sought to eliminate and prohibit all forms of violence in private and public life of persons in the state.
The bill titled: “Rivers State Violence Against Persons (Prohibitions) Bill 2016”, was sponsored by the House Leader, Hon. Martin C. Amaewhule, and the lawmaker representing Emohua Constituency, Hon. Samuel Ogeh, in the House in Port Harcourt.
Presenting the bill at the plenary session of the House, Ogeh said the bill would provide maximum protection and effective remedies for victims of rape and other related offences in the state.
According to him, the bill will increase the years of imprisonment for gang rapists to 20 years without option of time.
It also reviewed to 14 years imprisonment for persons less than 14 years of age without option of fine.
The bill further proposed imprisonment of not exceeding three years or option of N500,000.00 fine to any person who abandons a wife or husband, children or other dependants without any means of sustenance.
According to Ogeh, the 46-page bill would reduce violence among vulnerable women and children as well as protect the less privileged persons from unnecessary maltreatments in Rivers State.
However, the bill passed first reading at the plenary session.
The Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Adams Dabotorudima, who lauded the sponsors of the bill, said the proposed bill was a welcome one to increase penalties against offences on less privileged persons in the state.
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