EKITI State Governor Ayo Fayose’s stance against herdsmen received a legislative seal yesterday as the Ekiti State House of Assembly passed a bill criminalising open grazing.
The bill, which was passed after the Assembly adopted the report of Joint Committees on Agriculture and Environment by its chairman, Mr. Ayodele Fajemilehin, after a public hearing, is now awaiting the governor’s assent.
If eventually assented to, it will now become a crime for any cattle, sheep and goat to graze on undesignated land for ranches in Ekiti.
According to the bill tagged,” Prohibition of Cattle and Other Ruminants Grazing in Ekiti, 2016″, any offender upon conviction shall be sentenced to six months in prison without an option of fine..
The Speaker of the House, Kola Oluwawole, who presided over plenary, said the bill would now reduce the incessant clashes between farmers and herdsmen.
Other provisions of the law included, “The governor shall by an order designates land in each of 16 local government areas in the state in respect of which cattle or ruminants may be permitted to graze.
“ No person shall cause or permit any cow, oxen, sheep as well as goat under his or her control to graze on any land in which the governor has not designated as ranches” among others.
The law forbids movement of cattle by herdsmen and owners of goat in the Ekiti after 6 p.m.
“No cattle or other ruminants shall by any means move in the night. Movement shall be between 7am and 6pm”, a section of the bill reads.
The Assembly observed a minute silence for the four World Bank officials who lost their lives when their boat capsized at Egbe Dam in Gbonyin Local Government Area of the state.
The lawmaker representing Ikole Constituency 2, Gboyega Aribisogan, had earlier drawn the attention of House to the mishap, saying the tragedy as thrown the state into mourning.
No comments:
Post a Comment