Ondo, Ogun, Abia and Oyo state governments have vowed to continue their move to enact anti-open grazing laws despite apparent opposition to it by the Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali (retd.).
The state governments said Dan-Ali’s comments would not stop them from going ahead with their plans to pass a bill that is meant to stop clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers and the killings connected with these activities.
The minister had berated the enactment of anti-open grazing laws by some states after a Security Council meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday, calling for the suspension of the laws.
He had said the suspension of the laws would reduce tension associated with nomadic activities in the country.
The anti-open grazing law is currently operational in Benue, Ekiti and Taraba states, while Ondo, Ogun, Oyo and Abia states have been working on having similar laws.
However, the Ondo State government has said that it will not stop efforts to promulgate the anti-grazing law, saying it is meant to put an end to the incessant clashes between farmers and herdsmen in the state.
The state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Yemi Olowolabi, said the comments made by Dan-Ali had no effect on the position of the state government on the matter.
The commissioner also explained that the process of enacting the law through the Ondo State House of Assembly was ongoing.
He said, “The state is still in the process of making the law; our own is different from all these they are talking about, whatever the man (the minister) has said does not affect us. The issue has to pass through proper legislation and that is what we are doing.”
Also, according to the Commissioner for Information in Abia State, which is also trying to enact anti-open grazing law, Chief John Kalu, the states’ Houses of Assembly have the legal backing to make laws for good governance in their states.
He noted that the Federal Government was being wrongly advised on the matter as “Nigeria is a federal republic”.
“The Federal Government has the responsibility to secure lives and property in Nigeria and it is its failure to fully execute that responsibility that has led to the federating states’ attempts to protect their own people. It is also incumbent on the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to enforce every law validly made within the states of the federation and even the local governments.
“If the anti-open grazing bill is signed into law by the Abia State Governor, we will expect the security agencies to ensure the enforcement of the law. He cannot enforce an opinion that will make the state Houses of Assembly lack the power to make laws for the good governance of their areas.
“They will say that the killer herdsmen are Libyans and we are watching them. If those killer herdsmen are Libyans, then use the military resources of Nigeria and crush them now. If they crush them, there will be no reasons to have all these laws. If they are not Libyans, it will mean they are Nigerians; then they should use our internal security to stop them from harming people.
“But if the Federal Government’s posture shows the interest of herdsmen overrides the right of farmers to life and right to own farm lands and property, we are beginning to suspect that something is wrong somewhere. If the state governments are making laws, it is simply because there is failure of federal apparatus to enforce the existing laws of the country,” he said.
Similarly, the Chairman, Ogun State House of Assembly Committee on Information, Mr. Oludare Kadiri, said the bill on animal rearing and grazing was still before the House despite Dan-Ali’s comments.
Kadiri said the bill had passed the second reading and that it would have gone to committee stage if not that the House was currently on recess.
He added that the House would reconvene later this month, when the committee, which he said had earlier been dissolved, would be reconstituted.
He, however, said as soon as the committee was reconstituted, the bill would move to the next stage.
“The bill on animal rearing and grazing is before the House; it has passed the second reading. It will soon move to the committee stage. As soon as we reconvene on either June 21 or 22, the committee will be reconstituted and we will move on from there.
“The bill, when passed into law, will spell out the modalities for animal rearing and grazing. It will spell out where to go and where not to go. The advice given by the Minister of Defence to suspend the implementation of anti-grazing laws in some states won’t deter us. It is purely a state matter; it is within the jurisdiction of the state,” he said.
The Oyo State Commissioner for Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, Oyewole Oyewunmi, also told one of our correspondents that the push for an anti-open grazing law in the state was still ongoing.
Oyewunmi said the anti-open grazing bill would have been passed if not for the death of the former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Michael Adeyemo.
He said, “We have submitted the bill already at the state House of Assembly and deliberation on it had started. But the Speaker, Adeyemo, died, so activities on the floor of the House have not been vibrant. I am sure that when normalcy returns to the house, deliberation will continue on it.”
Asked if it would be withdrawn as a result of what the Defence Minister said, Oyewunmi said that the bill was an executive one and that it would not be withdrawn.
“It is an executive bill and we are not planning to suspend deliberation on it or withdraw it. We are going ahead,” he added. The Chief Press Secretary to Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, Emmanuel Uzor, said the state had not commenced the process of enacting anti-open grazing law to curb open rearing of cattle, adding that security situation in the country would determine the position of the state government on the matter.
“The action of the state government vis-à-vis enactment of the law would be determined by the security situation in the country. If the tension in the country reduces, there may be no need for the government to consider the issue.
“That does not mean that when the need arises for us to enact it, we will not do so, irrespective of the submissions of the Minister of Defence,” he said.
The Senate, the House of Representatives, Taraba, Ekiti and Benue state governments had earlier berated Dan-Ali for his comments.
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