Lagos — Full implementation of the Islamic legal code, the Sharia, was endorsed over the weekend in Nigeria's northern State of Kebbi.

The occasion was marked by a massive ceremony in Birnin Kebbi, the State capital, press reports said Monday.

Thousands of people, including Islamic scholars, from across the predominantly-Moslem State witnessed the ceremony during which 38 people reportedly embraced Islam.

State Governor Muhammadu Aliero told the gathering that his government would ensure justice for the rich and the poor as well as for government officials and ordinary citizens.

He explained that the introduction of the religious law, which forbids sale and consumption of alcohol, among others, was aimed at ridding the society of the vices that could retard progress.

Kebbi is the latest in the growing list of States in the Moslem north to introduce the Sharia, which prescribes hand amputation for stealing and death by stoning for adultery.

The introduction of the legal code, which started with Zamfara State earlier in the year, has generated much opposition and controversy from the mostly Christian south.

Nigeria's constitution prescribes secularism for the multi- ethnic, multi-religious country of 110 million people.