Anti-Open Grazing: Makinde, Others Selfish in their Approach, Ignored Critical Stakeholders — Miyetti Allah

The General Secretary of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Othman Ngelzarma, has accused the Oyo state government and other states set to pass the anti-open grazing bill into law as being lopsided in their approach.

Speaking in an interview on Arise Tv’s The Morning Show of Thursday, Ngelzarma alleged that the interests of his members who were critical stakeholders were not sought during the public hearing to discuss how the bill was going to affect them.

He said, “In most of the states, none of our members was invited to come to the public hearing and make input to the law. This law is done to affect our members 100 per cent. We are part of the critical stakeholders who are supposed to be invited to air their views and present their suggestions and that of the government of the state where they exist.

“There are processes that can be followed in making laws. Those processes are to get all the stakeholders to do a public hearing. There, you hear them and know how the law is going to solve their problems. But, has this been done in this open grazing law? It has never been done.

According to him, when a state House of Assembly makes a law without getting the critical parties involved to come to share their input, it becomes lopsided.

“Their interests are supposed to be protected by the law. But, when you make a law without getting them to come and make inputs, it becomes lopsided,” Ngelzarma added.

In reaction, Delta State Commissioner of Information, Charles Aniagwu, said his state did not need to look at the crisis created by the clash between herders and farmers for the state House of Assembly to begin to look for a lasting solution to the problem.

He suggested that the herders accept ranching which was what was obtained in other parts of the world.

Aniagwu noted, “Ranching does a lot. This bill is not only to ban rearing cattle in open areas, but we are also ahead to regulate the breeding, the rearing, as well as marketing, of these cattle.

“In any case, if we are going to create any place where individuals will ranch, we can do it in such a way that there is a collocation of facilities.”