Senate considers bill to establish ranches commission 

The Senate on Wednesday passed for second reading a bill to establish the National Animal Husbandry and Ranches Commission after a heated debate during plenary.

The bill sponsored by Senator Titus Tartenger Zam (APC, Benue North West) is aimed at resolving the issue of herder/farmer clashes in the country.

Speaking on the general principles of the bill, Senator Zam urged his colleagues to pass the bill, saying, “The proposed National Animal Husbandry and Ranches Commission is for management, preservation, and control of ranches throughout Nigeria.”

The bill, however, met stiff opposition from Senators Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central) and Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central).

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The two senators who are both former governors argued that cattle rearing and ranching activities were more in the North than in other parts of the country, adding that lawmaking should be for the benefit of the entire country, not for a section of it.

Goje specifically maintained that cattle routes begin from the far north and ends in Lokoja as “the route does not extend to the South.”

In his contribution, Senator Hussein Babangida Uba (Jigawa North-West), called for caution in passing the bill, given its trail of controversies in the past.

But other Senators who contributed called for the passage of the bill, since the proposed Commission would manage the issue of farmers/herders crisis in the country.

The bill was passed after it was put to voice vote by Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

It was then referred to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Judiciary and Legal Matters to be reverted to the committee of whole in four weeks.