The Delta State Livestock, Breeding, Rearing and Marketing Regulation Bill, 2021 was, on Thursday, signed into law by the state governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa.
Okowa who also signed the Delta State Urban and Regional Planning Bill 2020 called on the federal government to assist interested farmers to establish ranches across the country.
The anti-open grazing bill was passed by the state house assembly on September 9, 2021, after it went through a public hearing where stakeholders including cattle breeders hailed the proponents of the bill.
The governor said: “Today is quite a remarkable day in the history of this state because we signed two important bills into law this morning.
“We believe that it is in the best interest of security, we believe that it is in the best interest of ensuring food security and that it will help us to ensure that we are able to cause people from across this nation who will find themselves outside their own states inhabiting in Delta State to live with Deltans in a peaceful and respectable manner with each other having respect for each other.
“We believe as the Southern Governors had stated that we must start to look into other ways of ensuring that we are able to breed and that we are able to rare our cattle and other livestock in such a manner that is acceptable in modern times.
“We believe that this is something workable, many times it is difficult for people to embrace change, but I believe that the world all over is changing by the day and if you find that change is going to bring peace, if you find that change is going to bring development and even economic enhancement, it should truly be embraced.
“I think that it is time for our nation to depart from the old ways and to look into the future, ensuring that we do things in the best way for development.
“We must encourage best actions to be taken towards ensuring that there is peaceful coexistence within the various ethnic nationalities in Nigeria and the various states and also ensuring that we are able to do our businesses in such a manner that is respectable and I think that is what this law stands for,” he added.
He said the law was not enacted to witch-hunt anybody but to encourage people to live with each other, respecting each other’s view, noting that the Delta State House of Assembly had done the state proud.
“Today Delta State can rightly boast that we now have a law that regulates livestock breeding, rearing and marketing and a law that also prohibits open grazing.
“It is one law that every one of us in this country should truly support, it is something that is in the best interest of us all.
“I want to urge all who are into livestock business to realise that this law has been signed and it is in the best interest of everybody including those who are into livestock breeding, raring and marketing business.
“There has to be some decency brought into and there has to be some reasonable level of respect for each other and even the rights that we tend to claim.
“Everybody has their own rights but it is important that we respect each others rights, every man’s right has a limit because you cannot infringe on the rights of somebody else.
“As the government, we encourage our people to gradually go into ranching because it will help our people, it will help to boost the economy of even the livestock breeder.
“I believe that with time they will come to realise that these laws being passed would help to boost the economy going into the future,” he said.
Speaking on the need for the federal government to put processes in place to assist people to establish ranches, Okowa declared:
“This is very important because if we do not do something now, in the nearest future we will find that we will definitely be having food scarcity and the insecurity that we find in our country we may not be able to address them.
“Until we take very stringent and supportive measures to ensure that there is control in terms of open grazing and that there is respect among citizens because we are a united country.
“We have accepted to be one nation and everything that will strengthen the unity of this country, every government in this country both at the national and the sub-national levels must truly support it,” Okowa said.
Earlier, the Speaker, Rt honourable Sheriff Oborevwori, accompanied by his deputy, Hon. Ochor Ochor had said by virtue of the anti-open grazing bill, the state government has demonstrated its resolve to protect the people of the state from the menace of clashes between herders and farmers.
According to him, the State Urban and Regional Planning Bill, 2020 was aimed at developing the state through a proper mechanism for Urban and Regional Planning to ensure compliance with laid down laws.
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