EKITI State governor Ayo Fayose has inaugurated a new agency known as the Ekiti Grazing Enforcement Marshals put together to enforce a new law prohibiting open migration of cattle across the state.
In late August, Governor Fayose signed a bill into law banning grazing in some areas of the state and treating offenders as terrorists. This Anti Grazing Bill, 2016 was introduced following the killing of two people by persons suspected to be Fulani herdsmen in Oke Ako, in Ikole Ekiti Local Government Area and criminalises grazing in forbidden places and at certain times across Ekiti State.
Yesterday, he inaugurated the agency at government house in Ado-Ekiti at an occasion which was attended by traditional rulers, the police, the army, local hunters and local residents. Governor Fayose mandated the agency to rid the state of the menace of herdsmen, warning that he would not watch the killing of the people and their sources of livelihood destroyed under the guise of cattle rearing.
The Prohibition of Cattle and other Ruminants Grazing in Ekiti State Law states in part, that no person shall cause or permit any cattle or other ruminants belonging to him or under his control to graze on any land in which the Governor has not designated as ranches, no cattle or other ruminants shall by any means move or graze at night and that cattle movement and grazing are restricted to the hours between 7 am and 6 pm. Also, herdsmen found in possession of firearms and other offensive weapons can be charged with terrorism and would be made to pay for property or farm products destroyed by the cattle.
Furthermore, the law also gives the government powers to confiscate erring cattle. Governor Fayose said 5,000 cows could not be equated with the lives of human beings killed daily by herdsmen across the country, adding that only timid and compromised leaders would allow their people to be killed while they fold their arms on the altar of politics.
Governor Fayose said: “Supporters and beneficiaries of open grazing have argued that cows, like human beings have rights to move freely in any part of Nigeria and one question I have always asked is what happens if poultry farmers, pig farmers, ostrich farmers or even snake farmers decide to exercise this same rights to freedom of movement of their animals? Imagine a situation where snake farmers also release their snakes to the streets and other people’s farmlands to look for what to eat as being done by cattle farmers.
“The reality we must all face is that cattle farming is not different from fish farming, snake farming, poultry farming, snail farming, etc. Therefore, if fish farmers are providing their own ponds and poultry farmers building their own pens, while also buying feed for their animals, there is no reason cattle farmers should not also provide their own ranch and feed their cows without encroaching on other people’s farmlands.”
He insisted that in Ekiti State, those who want to practice cattle farming, must do so at designated locations. Across the state, any cow found destroying people’s farmlands will be confiscated and sold with proceeds handed to people whose farmlands were destroyed while herdsmen found with arms will face terrorism charges.
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