LAGOS STATE GOVERNOR SIGNS ANTI-OPEN GRAZING BILL INTO LAW

On Monday, Lagos state Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has signed the bill prohibiting open cattle grazing in the state into law.

The governor’s media aide on print media, Wale Ajetunmobi, made this known.

The post on Facebook captured “Breaking! Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, this afternoon, signs the bill prohibiting open cattle grazing in Lagos into law.”

However,  the Lagos State House of Assembly on Thursday, September 9, 2021, passed the bill entitled, “A bill for a law to Prohibit Open Cattle Grazing In Lagos State, the Trespass of Cattle Land And For Other Connected Purposes”.

Speaker Mudashiru Obasa subsequently directed the Acting Clerk of the House, Mr. Olalekan Onafeko, to transmit a clean copy to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for assent.

The bill was passed after common votes by the lawmakers at the sitting where the bill was read the third time.

Earlier, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association has argued that raising a cow in one location could increase the price of a cow to as much as N2 million. a cow could cost up to N2 million in Lagos.

Zonal Secretary of Myetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association in the South West, during a one-day public hearing organized by the state House of Assembly on the anti-open grazing bill.

During the public hearing, Usman appealed to the state government for assistance, noting that ranching is more expensive than open grazing.

He also pleaded with the government to subsidies the cost of raising the cattle in one location.

“If cattle are bred in one place, the price could go up to about N2 million each. We agreed with some local chiefs in other states that anyone who wants to rear cows in a location should register and should indicate when he is leaving

“A Fulani man moves from one place to another to ply his trade, but we have some bad eggs that are causing trouble. The government should allow us to talk to our people that they don’t want our cows to destroy people’s farmland.

“We have met with stakeholders in Ekiti, Ondo and even Oyo states and we reached agreements with them,” Usman was quoted as saying this in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker of the House, Mr Eromosele Ebhomele.