… as Ortom urges more states to enact law banning practice
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has described open grazing of cattle as a threat to the peace and unity of the country. This was just as his Benue State counterpart, Samuel Ortom urged more states of the county to enact Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law to completely phase out open grazing in Nigeria.
Governor Wike disclosed this in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, while delivering a keynote address at the 2021 annual law week celebration with the theme “Open Grazing in Nigeria: Threat to National and Food Security, National Cohesion and Sustainable Development.” Wike, who was represented by a senior lawyer, Barrister Chief RC Ndefor, sued for strict implementation of the ban on open grazing.
He said, “pastoralists mobility in the country today has become a threat to national security, their provocative behaviour which includes raping of women, kidnapping, destruction of lives and property and so on is no acceptable. “The ban on open grazing is the only solution to the lingering crisis between herders and farmers”. Also, Governor Samuel Ortom urged more states in the county to enact Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law to completely phase out open grazing in Nigeria. He said Nigeria is ripe for the implementation of a policy on ranching as captured in the National Livestock Transformation Plan that was adopted by the National Economic Council (NEC) which he noted would not only protect farming communities but also stop cattle rustling.