Breaking: Governor Okowa Signs Anti-Grazing Bill Into Law

By Akinwale Kasali

The Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa has joined some of his Southern Governors-colleague in signing the Anti-Open Grazing Bill into law.

The Governor  signed the dotted lines in making the Bill a law today, Thursday 30th September, 2021, at the Delta Government House, Asaba, the State Capital.

Signing into law the Delta State Livestock, Breeding, Rearing and Marketing Regulation Bill, 2021, he called on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to assist interested farmers to establish ranches across the country.

It would be recalled that the Southern Governors met and took certain decisions which they believe are in the best interest of the nation, which include the Anti-Open Grazing Law, prohibiting the movement of livestocks from one place to another in States.

Speaking after signing the Bill into law, Governor Okowa said, “Today is quite a remarkable day in the history of this State because we signed two important bills into law this morning.

“We believe that it is in the best interest of security, we believe that it is in the best interest of ensuring food security and that it will help us to ensure that we are able to cause people from across this nation who will find themselves outside their own states inhabiting in Delta State to live with Deltans in a peaceful and respectable manner with each other having respect for each other.

“We believe as the Southern Governors had stated that we must start to look into other ways of ensuring that we are able to breed and that we are able to rare our cattle and other livestock in such a manner that is acceptable in modern times.

“We believe that this is something workable, many times it is difficult for people to embrace change, but I believe that the world all over is changing by the day and if you find that change is going to bring peace, if you find that change is going to bring development and even economic enhancement, it should truly be embraced.

“I think that it is time for our nation to depart from the old ways and to look into the future, ensuring that we do things in the best way for development.

“We must encourage best actions to be taken towards ensuring that there is peaceful coexistence within the various ethnic nationalities in Nigeria and the various states and also ensuring that we are able to do our businesses in such a manner that is respectable and I think that is what this law stands for,” he added.

The Governor cleared the air, saying that the law was not enacted to witch-hunt anybody but to encourage people to live with each other, respect one another’s views, noting that the Delta State House of Assembly had done the State proud.

“Today Delta State can rightly boast that we now have a law that regulates livestock breeding, rearing and marketing and a law that also prohibits open grazing.

“It is one law that everyone of us in this country should truly support, it is something that is in the best interest of us all.

“I want to urge all who are into livestock business to realise that this law has been signed and it is in the best interest of everybody including they who are into livestock breeding, raring and marketing business.

“There has to be some decency brought into and there has to be some reasonable level of respect for each other and even the rights that we tend to claim.

“Everybody has their own rights but it is important that we respect each other’s rights, every man’s right has a limit because you cannot infringe on the rights of somebody else.

“As Governments, we encourage our people to gradually go into ranching because it will help our people, it will help to boost the economy of even the livestock breeder.

“I believe that with time they will come to realise that these laws being passed would help to boost the economy going into the future,” he said.

Governor Okowa called on the Federal Government to put processes in place to assist in various ways to enable people to be able to establish ranches.

“This is very important because if we do not do something now, in the nearest future we will find that we will definitely be having food scarcity and the insecurity that we find in our country we may not be able to address them.

“Until we take very stringent and supportive measures to ensure that there is control in terms of open grazing and that there is respect among citizens because we are a united country.

“We have accepted to be one nation and everything that will strengthen the unity of this country, every government in this country both at the national and the sub-national levels must truly support it,” Okowa said.