Ortom Urges N’Assembly To Reject Buhari’s National Grazing Reserves Council Bill

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has told the National Assembly to resist any lastminute attempts by President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure the passage of the National Grazing Reserve Council Bill.

According to him, the Bill is aimed at depriving Nigerians of their land in favour of foreign herdsmen. Ortom made the claim in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Terver Akase yesterday.

The governor said if the Buhari government had concentrated on tackling the security challenges facing the country in the same manner he is pushing for the enactment of a cattle grazing reserves law, Nigeria would have been safer for every Nigerian.

He said: “Governor Ortom finds it curious that since 2016, the Presidency has sent the grazing reserves bill to the National Assembly bearing different names, and despite the public outcry, it is not giving up the idea of having the bill passed.

“In November 2016, the Senate rejected the controversial bill seeking to establish a Grazing Management Agency which was to ensure the creation of cattle grazing areas across the country. “In 2017, the Federal Government again tried to influence the passage of a bill adorning the same regalia which was called the National Grazing Routes and Reserves Bill.

That bill was similarly rejected following the alarm raised by some patriotic Nigerians. “The government subsequently introduced the National Water Resources Bill which also came with a singular objective of bringing all water sources (surface and underground) and river banks under the control of the Federal Government, a move that attracted an avalanche of condemnations from Nigerians.

“The Federal Government introduced Ruga, Cattle Colonies and several other programmes, all aimed at creating settlements for pastoralists in all the states of the federation. It is on record that Governor Samuel Ortom was the first to speak out against the draconian bills.

“In August 2021, President Buhari approved recommendations of a committee to review ‘with dispatch, 368 grazing sites, across 25 states in the country, and to determine the levels of encroachment.’ Again, Benue and other states rejected the presidential approval and the idea eventually lost steam.

“We understand that those who are bent on taking over the ancestral lands of Nigerians to give to pastoralists are looking for the opportunity to hastily pass the bill which they have now renamed as National Grazing Reserves Council Bill. The proposed law has been in the National Assembly after it was reintroduced, and its sponsors, sensing the mood and suspicions of the people, have been trying to find the right moment to have it passed.

“If passed by the National Assembly, the law will establish a Council with the powers to take over land in any part of the country for grazing reserves and pay ‘compensation’ to the land owner(s).

Beneficiaries of the usurped land will be pastoralists whose animals will enjoy unfettered access to the land.” According to him, the Bill: “Is not only a violation of the Constitution and the Land Use Act but is also a fang of impunity, subjugation and a deeply rooted conquest agenda against Nigerians.

The bill is a direct land-grabbing legislation designed to make Nigerians slaves in their country while serving the selfish and parochial interests of herdsmen.”