Edo Assembly passes anti-open grazing bill – Businessday

The Edo State House of Assembly has passed a bill for a law to ban open grazing of cattle and regulate other livestock in the state.

A clause of the bill, which stated that a ranching committee would be constituted by the state governor who will be empowered to determine the size of land suitable for ranching, had earlier stirred debate among members of the House during a debate.

However, considering the bill clause by clause at the committee of the whole, on Wednesday, the lawmakers passed relevant sections of the bill with amendments to sections 5(7) and 5(8) of the bill.

This followed the adoption of a motion to dissolve the House into a committee of the whole moved by Roland Asoro, deputy speaker of the House and seconded by Frank Okiye, a member representing Esan North East 1 during plenary in Benin City.

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The amendment to section 5 (7) of the bill reads that “a ranch committee to be constituted by the governor shall determine the size of the land suitable for ranching in conjunction with the community where the ranch is proposed.

While section 5 (8), which was also amended, reads “that the committee shall control the activities of cattle herdsmen within various communities.

According to the bill, section eight prohibits open grazing in the state while section 9(1) empowered the state governor to designate land for ranching.

Also, section 9(2) in the bill stated that an owner of land shall apply to the committee in writing of his intention to operate a ranch with his land.

Marcus Onobun, speaker of the house, thereafter, directed the clerk of the house, Yahaya Omogbai, to give the bill its third reading and forward clean copies to the governor for assent.

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