Last week, the new governor of Benue State, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia, stirred the hornet’s nest when he warned animal rearers in the state to desist from open grazing because the law against the act was still in force.
The warning dispelled rumours milling the town that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration in the state was after all not interested in the law.
It would be recalled that the administration of immediate past Governor Samuel Ortom assented to the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment law on May 27, 2017. He also signed an amendment bill to the law on January 20, 2022.
Ortom’s administration enacted the law while still in APC but sought a review on the grounds that it had some lacuna, and therefore needed an amendment to deter those who would disobey it.
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He defected to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in 2018 before the amendment of the law, which stipulated that any person found moving livestock on foot in any part of the state would pay N500,000 as fine (first offender), while a subsequent offender would be liable to N1 million, with appropriate prison terms and options of fine.
The amended law also stipulates a 14-year jail term with an option of N5m fine for anyone who engages the services of a child to break the law, with various fines for confiscated livestock, including a N50, 000 fine per cow, N10, 000 per pig, N5, 000 per goat and N1, 000 per poultry bird.
The ex-governor said the amendment became necessary as the old moderate fine for a confiscated animal which prescribed N2, 000 per cow could not deter offenders, and hence it was reviewed to N50, 000 based on current realities and the cost of caring for them at the state’s quarantine centre.
However, Alia, in his inaugural speech on May 29, described the implementation of the law as ‘controversial’ and added that his government would review the law to accommodate current realities.
“We are inheriting an anti-open grazing law whose implementation has become controversial.
“Having gone through some period of implementation, it is fit and proper for us to review the law to identify the
lessons learnt, hold the gains made if any, and reform to accommodate current realities,” Alia had said.
Briefing newsmen recently after the state’s security council meeting in Makurdi, Alia said the state government has set machinery in motion to ensure that the law becomes viable to address farmers-herders conflict.
“All stakeholders should note that the anti-open grazing law is still in existence in Benue State and all must respect this fact and abide by the law.
“A sub-committee of the Commissioner of Police, the Director of State Security Services, the traditional rulers, NAPTITP, immigration, BLGCA and Office of the Security Adviser to head the team, was set up to identify the heads of the Fulani herders and report back to the security council in three weeks,” he said.
The governor, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Tersoo Kula, in company of security chiefs in the state, maintained the need for stakeholders in the various sectors to ensure enforcement of the anti-open grazing law that has come to stay.
Alia urged the stakeholders to ensure sincerity during enforcement of the law while emphasis should be on prevention of attacks instead of the reactionary approach.
The governor added that efforts would be made to ensure a peaceful environment in order to return displaced people back to their ancestral homes.
It is not immediately clear the section of the law the government seeks to amend.
Kula, the governor’s spokesman, did not respond to enquiries on the proposed review of the law despite repeated reminders.
Justin Gbagir, a lawyer, agreed with the governor that it was fit and only proper for the new administration to review the law.
Gbagir said, “For me, it is appropriate that the law should be reviewed. The law was not just made; it was intent to cure some mischief. So, to what extent has it been effective within this period? And if it has not been effective, what needs to be done for it to be effective?
“So, having a stakeholders’ input will go a long way to remodel the law to meet the aspirations of both farmers and herdsmen.”
Meanwhile, Alia has hinted in some fora before he was sworn in to office what his administration set to do with the grazing law.
For instance, during a visit by the highest socio-cultural body of the Tiv nation, Mzough U Tiv (MUT), the governor
decried the level of insecurity in Benue and promised to strengthen the implementation of the anti-open grazing law through provision of ranches and other amenities.
Alia told the group that the economic activities involved in building and maintaining ranches would provide job opportunities for the youth in the state.
Though details about the governor’s intention towards the Livestock Guards and Community Volunteer Guards are not clearer now, the formations are still in place.
The commander of the Livestock Guards, Linus Zaki, in a telephone conversation with our correspondent, admitted that they have not been functioning optimally for a while now and that their vehicles are also in bad shape; needing repairs before they could go to the field.
Zaki added that he was also waiting for a directive from the new administration of Governor Alia to function.
