The proposed anti-grazing bill by Oyo State House of Assembly has been rejected by herdsmen in the state.
The herders who spoke through its national chairman, Gan Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Sale Bayari pleaded with the people of the state not to allow the bill sail through, adding that it was a ploy to punish them.
Bayari who delivered an 18-page position paper delivered during the session kicked against the bill and its sponsors. He was speaking at the public presentation of views and observation on the Grazing Regulations Bill 2019 held in the state capital, Ibadan.
“It is impossible in our country for any peasant small scale herdsman or rancher to go into ranching,” he said.
According to him, the sponsors of the bill did not probe into the detailed history of the herdsmen and his cattle rearing culture, tradition and hereditary attachment to his means of livelihood, rather than the ‘business’ angle to it.
He further said the bill failed to take into consideration small scale herdsmen, unlike the commercial livestock farmers. He asked rhetorically how a herdsman owning 50 cows or less could afford to lease a plot of ranch to keep and graze his livestock and buy feed for the animals.
His words: “From our calculations, one cow will eat grass, drink water, drugs and other maintenance costs to the tune of N1, 500 a day.” “We shall continue to be law-abiding citizens of this state and here undertake to ensure that we fish out all the bad elements among us that are distorting the peace and tranquility of Oyo state,” he promised.
Meanwhile, leader of the Yoruba people, Professor Banji Akintoye, on Tuesday, October 8, called on the southwest people to stand up and defend their land.
Akintoye made the comment when he led a delegation to the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, saying his mission as a leader of the race is to ensure that the Yoruba takes back its pride of place.
