FRIDAY- 3rd September, 2021: The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has criticised the Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu for signing of the Anti-open grazing bill into law.
Recall that the governor had on Tuesday signed the anti-open grazing bill into law to prohibit the open grazing of cattle in the state and to curb insecurity in the state.
Akeredolu said he assented to the bill in line with the resolution of the Southern Governors’ Forum at its last meeting in Lagos where the governors set September 1st as the deadline for signing of the Anti-Open Grazing Bill into law.
But in an interview on Thursday on Arise News, MACBAN Secretary-General, Usman Baba-Ngelzerma, accused the Ondo State House of Assembly of not following due processes in making the anti-open grazing law.
He stated that none of the MACBAN members was invited for a public hearing and to make inputs to the law before it was signed by the governor.
Baba-Ngelzerma disclosed that the state government failed to establish ranches before the implementation of the law banning open grazing in the state.
He, however, asked the Ondo government to learn from Benue where the same law has not brought peace to the state four years after it was signed.
The MACBAN scribe added that the anti-open grazing law has further aggravated the insecurity situation affecting the state.
He said: “We are civilised people and we know that the responsibility of making laws lies in the state house of assemblies and we know that once a law is made by the state house of assemblies and assented to by the governors, that becomes law, whether we like it or not, whether good or bad.
“But there are processes to be followed in making laws, those processes are: get all the stakeholders through public hearing, hear them, know how the law is going to solve their problem but has this been doing in making the Anti-Open Grazing Law? It has never been done.
“In most of the states, none of our members has been invited for a public hearing and makes inputs to the law and this law is done to affect us 100%, to affect our members 100%. We are part of the critical stakeholders that are supposed to be invited to hear our views and protect our positions and that of the government of the states where we exist.
“So, we will wait and see how this law is going to be implemented but I will like to draw the attention of Ondo to Benue where a law has been put in place. Go and appraise the Benue law, has it succeeded in bringing peace to Benue? It has never succeeded in bringing peace to Benue. Rather, it has further aggravated the situation to become worse, day in day out.
“Laws are supposed to bring harmony and understanding in a community.”
