Two lawmakers have restated their opposition to the National Grazing Reserve/Ranches Bill.
Two lawmakers in Igboland in the National Assembly, Senator Chukwuka Utazi and and Hon Chris Azubogu, have restated their opposition to the National Grazing Reserve/Ranches Bill.While Senator Utazi cautioned the Federal Government against acquiring lands for cattle rearers with the tax payers’ money because it negates the spirit of entrepreneurship, Hon Azubogu, said that he would vote against the Bill in the House of Representatives.
Senator Utazi, who represents Enugu North Senatorial District in Enugu State told news men that since cattle rearing is a private business venture, it will be wrong for the Federal Government to buy grazing lands for herdsmen under the guise of establishing grazing reserves or ranches in the country.
The lawmaker, who proposes the Cattle Movement (Control) Bill 2016, said the Bill is designed to restore people’s confidence in herdsmen by making them accountable for the damage done by their cattle in their attempt to provide pasture for them.
Utazi said that he had taken time to examine the source of incessant clashes between herdsmen and the host communities and discovered that the inability of the cattle rearers to take responsibility for crops destroyed by their cattle had always given rise to such conflicts.
He said: “Our people are more hospitable to strangers than their own relations but this gesture has been taken for granted and that is why since the militarisation of cattle herdsmen by their employers who, instead of giving them sticks with which to chase their cattle, have given them AK-47 and these people who used to negotiate with our people if their cattle decide to feed on people’s crops, have become defiant.
“The situation now is that if you complain, you will be shot dead. If your wife goes to the farm to work, she is raped. Our women and children can no long go to the farm to fetch firewood or go to streams to fetch water, they are raped”, he lamented.
Hon Azubogu, who represents Nnewi North, Nnewi South and Ekwusigo Local Government Areas of Anambra State, said he would vote against the bill on the floor of the lower House.
In an interaction with journalists in Nnewi, after inspecting computer laboratories in three schools in his constituency where he has attracted about 200 computers, the lawmaker said that the bill which sneaked into the National Assembly has been condemned, adding that it is not in the interest of his constituents.
Azubogu said that the bill will fail because of the rejection it has received across the country and that the lawmakers as representatives of their people must vote in line with the expectations of their constituents.
“What my constituents want is ranching bill and not grazing bill, we will work towards that at the appropriate time though I must state that we have to be tactical while pursuing that”, he said.