Senate Bill to Ban Open Grazing Passes Second Reading, Northern Senators Kick

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja 

A Bill which seeks to ban open grazing and establish  a national agency for the regulation and management of ranches in Nigeria has passed second reading in Senate.

The Bill titled: “A Bill to establish a National Animal Husbandry and Ranches Commission for the regulation, management, preservation and control of ranches throughout Nigeria; and for connected purposes, 2024” 

It was sponsored by Senator Titus Zam, an All Progressives Congress member representing Benue North-West Senatorial District in the National Assembly.

Zam in his lead debate noted  the increasing wave of violent conflicts that erupt from pastoralists and farmers interaction in Nigeria.

He said such conflicts had assumed a war-like dimension “with far reaching negative impact on the people and country as a whole.”

He said the Senate cannot afford to look on while the country burns into ashes as a result of violent clashes between sedentary farmers and nomadic herders.

The Senator said, “As stakeholders in the Nigeria project and elected representatives of the people, doing so would amount to abdication of our statutory and leadership responsibilities.

He said the menace of farmers and herders crises could easily be cured through a legislative therapy banning open grazing in Nigeria. 

Zam lamented that the Nigerian State had continued to pay lips-service to the challenge of farmers and herders altercation without addressing it in concrete terms in line with international best practices of animal husbandry. 

He said, “Every effort (was) is laced with maneuvers that speak to our ethnic and political biases or sentiments, thus resisted by the people.

“This 10th Senate has a date with history. We must rise in one accord to sort out this problem of herders-farmers violent conflicts that would, if allowed to linger longer, consume even more lives and properties than the civil war of 1967-1970.
 

“Therefore, now is the time to put a permanent stop to the endless circle of attacks and counter attacks by our people and their external collaborators.

“Now is the time to adopt international best practices in animal husbandry. Now is the time to bring about a law to stop open grazing. It is old fashioned, hazardous, burdensome and must be discarded.”

He said the Bill proposes ranching as the only viable alternative for cattle breeding in Nigeria and advocates for the urgent need to transit from traditional livestock keeping method to the modern methods which are safer and healthier to both the herds and the herders.

He said the Bill further proposes that ranches would be established in the pastoralists state of origin without forcing it upon other states or communities that do not have pastoralists as citizens.

He said interested parties in livestock business must seek and obtain approvals of their host communities to establish ranches for the purpose of peaceful co-existence.

Senators Eyinnaya Abaribe, Danjuma Goje, Senator Garba Musa Maidoki, Senator Barau Jibrin, Senator Adamu Aliero and Kawu Sumaila supported the Bill.

They however objected to a clause in the lead debate which said pastoralists should establish ranches in their state of origin.

Abaribe said he was of  the view that the bill could be a solution to the clashes between farmers and herders if properly managed.

He recommended the amendment of the constitution and the Land Use Act to simplify the management of lands within the respective states.

Abaribe noted that while some herders were peaceful and engaged in legitimate animal business, there were also the criminal elements sponsored to destablise communities.

“Farmers are under threat, and what that has led to is the food crisis that we face in Nigeria today”, he added.

Making his contribution, Senator Sunday Karimi (Kogi-West), suggested that the best way to go was for every state to establish ranches.

He said, “I appreciate my colleague for introducing this bill. This is a national problem, and we all know this.

“We can’t just sit and do nothing as responsible parliamentarians.
Before now, the North had cattle routes, which have been taken over by property owners. Now cattles roam the whole country.

All states must be ready to establish cattle ranches,” he said

A former Governor of Gombe State, Senator Mohammed Goje, drove the north’s position further when he observed that the bill was discriminatory by proposing to restrict the herders to a particular geographical location.

“There are many angles to this issue of farmers and herders. We have to tackle the problem holistically.

“These Fulanis are Nigerians,“ he maintained.

The same view was held by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Sports, Senator Suleiman Abdulrahman-Kawu, who said the bill would breach the constitutional rights of the herders.

He said, “The bill is totally against the constitution of Nigeria. The bill will even compound the problem of the herders and the farmers.

“You can’t propose a law to attend to a particular group or section of the country only, This bill is not holistic and we will fight it till the end,” Kawu stated.

However, the President of the Senate, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, while rounding off the debate, urged all senators to be calm by letting the bill go for a public hearing.

“We must hold a public hearing and bring all the stakeholders to have a say, including cattle rearers and the state governments”, Akpabio remarked shortly before he rammed his gavel for the second reading.

Akpabio also assured senators that everything possible would be done to reach a consensus on the proposals contained in the bill, including amending the Land Use Act where necessary.

But Senator Adamu Aliero, said any law that would restrict the movement of any Nigerian and his property would be a direct breach of Section 41 of the Constitution. 

Senate President however said that offensive clauses not in line with the constitution should be expunged from the Bill during public hearing and national summit on security already agreed by the Senate.

Heated debate on the bill further divided the Senate.

The division among senators on the bill centred  around  infractions on relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution , protocols of the Economic Community of West African States ( ECOWAS ) as regards free movements of persons and their property from State to State and country to country .

Garba Musa Maidoki ( PDP Kebbi South),  Abba Moro ( PDP Benue South ) , supported the bill.

Others like Senators Adamu Aliero ( PDP Kebbi Central) , Suleiman Kawu ( NNPP Kano South) , Danjuma Goje ( APC Gombe Central ) , kicked against the bill .

Senator Adamu Aliero in opposing the bill, raised constitutional point of order by quoting section 41 of the 1999 Constitution which gives all Nigerians free movement into any state with their property .

He specifically told the Senate that it was wrong for the sponsor of the bill , to propose establishment of ranches in the state of origin of pastoralists alone .

Senator Kawu in his own opposition to the bill, said it was totally against provisions of Nigeria Constitution.

“This  bill is against provisions of the constitution and infact, will compound the crisis of herders / farmers in Nigeria , if allowed to become law,” he said .

 As a way of shutting down the bill, the Deputy President of the Senate , Senator Jibrin Barau ( APC Kano North) ,  said he had advised the sponsor to step it down for limiting establishment of Ranches to states of origin of Pastoralists .

The bill however scaled second reading when put to voice votes  by the President of the Senate , Godswill Akpabio after refusal of the sponsor to step it down.

It was thereafter forwarded to the Senate Committees on Agriculture , Trade and Investment , Judiciary and Legal Matters for more legislative inputs within the next four weeks.