The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has appealed to Lagos State government to amend the anti-open grazing bill, which is currently being considered by the state’s House of Assembly.

 

Speaking at a public hearing on the bill Wednesday in Lagos, MACBAN’s secretary in the state, Alhaji Maikudi Usman, said it is expensive to breed cattle in one place.

 

According to him, rearing a cow in one location could increase the price of one cow to about N2 million.

 

The best way to breed cattle, he said, was to move them from one place to another during the rainy and dry seasons.

 

The bill provides 21 years jail term for any herder found with firearms.

 

His position was supported by Chairman of Butchers Association of Lagos State, Alhaji Alabi Bamidele Kazeem, who asked the state government to support cattle breeders.

 

Earlier, Chairman of the assembly’s Committee on Agriculture, Kehinde Joseph, said that the proposed law was to ensure peace between herders and farmers in the state.

 

Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has condemned the call by the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, asking the federal government and National Assembly to stop implementation of anti-open grazing law in states.

 

The National Secretary of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Engr Saleh Alhassan, had made the call while briefing journalists on Monday.

 

Akeredolu, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties & Strategy, Dr Doyin Odebowale, vowed that the state’s anti-open grazing law would be implemented vigorously.

 

“Ondo State has a law which prohibits open grazing. The government has a responsibility to implement the law for the benefit of the people of the state and those who may share in their aspiration for development of their God-given space. The people of Ondo are hospitable. They will, however, be unable to tolerate and condone invasion of their lands. No bandit will operate in Ondo State under any dubious guise.”

 

Similarly, the Benue State government yesterday asked the security agencies to arrest leaders of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore over ‘spurious’ demand that the implementation of anti-open grazing law in states be stopped.

 

The state’s Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Ngunan Addingi, at a press conference in Makurdi, said: “We see the open confrontation to constituted authorities by the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore as a subtle endorsement by the federal government.

 

“We therefore implore relevant agencies to step forward and act swiftly by arresting the leaders of this group as their utterances portend danger to the already fragile security in the country,” she said.