Ekiti
State governor Ayodele Fayose said that any herdsman caught grazing with arms
or any weapon in Ekiti would now be charged with terrorism and be made to face
the law.
This
followed his signing into law a bill recently passed by the state House of
Assembly: the anti-grazing bill, which was read to the congregation of all
traditional chiefs and rulers in Ekiti by the Speaker of the state’s House of
Assembly, Hon. Kolawole Oluwawole on Monday.
The
chiefs had been invited by the governor for the meeting at the Osuntokun Hall
of the government house in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State capital.
According
to Oluwawole, the state government is already working with local government
officials to apportion portions of land for grazing to all local government
authorities in the state. He also gave the highlights of the anti-grazing law
as: “Grazing activities must be from 7am to 6pm on daily basis. The government
shall allot certain portion of land to each local government for grazing.
Anyone caught grazing on portions of land or any farmland not allotted by
government shall be apprehended and made to face the law.
“Any
herdsman caught with firearms and any weapons whatsoever during grazing shall
be charged with terrorism. Any cattle confiscated shall be taken to government
cattle ranch at Erifun in Iworoko community.
“Any
farm products destroyed by the activities of any apprehended herdsman shall be
estimated by agricultural officers and the expenses of the estimate shall be
borne by the culprit. Any herdsman who violates any of these rules shall be
imprisoned for six months without option of fine.”
Governor
Fayose who signed the bill into law before the congregation of all the
traditional chiefs and rulers invited for the meeting, said that the purpose of
meeting with them was the importance of interfacing with the traditional chiefs
on security issues in the state, development of the state, and anti-grazing law
among others.
Fayose
said that he recognized the need for his government to work with the chiefs to
give valuable information on activities of those who plunder state resources
such as trees, farmlands and others.
Speaking
about the anti-grazing law, he said: “My government took the bill to the House
after what happened in Oke-Ako some months ago. The House has passed the bill
and I have to assent to it, it becomes a law from today that if you do anything
to the contrary you will be punished by the law. Any herdsman caught with
firearms or any weapon while grazing in Ekiti now will be charged with
terrorism.
“I
solicit for your support for this government to succeed. This is not about
party politics and Ekiti should be our primary concern. I’ll continue to call
you for this kind of meeting every three months to give accounts of governance.
“We
want to involve stakeholders in the preparation of the budget, a bottom up
approach, we want to maintain the lead of being ranked first as performing best
in budget implementation as we did last year.”
The
governor also gave room for an interactive session with the chiefs who used the
opportunity to air their views.
The
forum also gave room for the government to present achievements of the Ayo
Fayose administration to the chiefs and also presented a run down of all the
federal allocation that came to the state treasury since last year, with an
indication that the state was having developmental challenges due to the
continuous reduction in allocation coming from the federal government.
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Society