The Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) has said opening grazing of cattle is only banned in the Federal Capital City (FCC) and not the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as a whole.
Director of the board Dr. Hassan Abubakar, who was reacting to reports that open grazing was prohibited in the FCT, said herdsmen grazing in the city were flouting the board’s directive.
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He, however, explained that four grazing reserves were earmarked for the herders in the territory to avoid open grazing in the territory.
“No one is allowed to go about with cattle in the city so efforts are in progress to stop the act, especially children that go about with cattle everywhere in the city,” he said.
Abubakar said that AEPB was working with the FCT Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat (ARDS) to provide adequate security measures in the four areas designated for grazing outside the city.
He also said the board has raided some areas in the city and sacked over 1,000 scavengers.
He said the raids followed a directive by the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, to the board to sanitise the city and rid it of the menace of scavengers.
Abubakar explained that enforcement officers of the board, with support from security personnel, had cleared one of the largest camps for scavengers located near Orji Kalu’s house on Minister’s Hill.
“We are not sleeping over the minister’s directive to make the city free of scavengers, 182 of them were arrested and they are undergoing prosecution, some have escaped,” he said.
He added that the raids would continue and extended to the satellite towns.
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