Edo assembly passes anti-open grazing bill

The Edo house of assembly, on Wednesday, passed the state’s anti-open grazing bill.

The passage of the bill followed the adoption of a motion by Roland Asoro, deputy speaker of the house, and seconded by Francis Okiye, lawmaker from Esan north-east 1.

Among the provisions listed in the bill include section 5(7), which provides for the governor to constitute a ranch committee that will determine the size of the land suitable for ranching.

The provision of the land will be done in collaboration with the community where the ranch is proposed to be sited.

Section 5(8) makes provision for the committee to control the activities of herders in communities, while section 8 prohibits open grazing.

Marcus Onobun, speaker of the house, thereafter, directed Yahaya Omogbai, the clerk, to forward copies of the bill to the governor for assent.

If Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo. assents to the bill, the state will join other states such as Benue, Anambra, Delta and Ogun that have banned open grazing.

On May 11, 2021, governors of the 17 southern states had resolved to ban open grazing and the movement of cattle by foot in order to curb clashes between farmers and herders in the region — the governors had fixed a deadline of September 1, 2021.

But explaining why the state was yet to sign the bill, Obaseki had said there was a need to carry the necessary stakeholders along.

“To sign a law is very simple, it doesn’t make sense to put out a law you cannot enforce. The best way of enforcing a law is to bring everybody together to be part of that law. We have a crisis in our country, it is deeply rooted, there are different causes why these are happening, let us go to the root of the causes and resolve it from there,” he had said.