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ProfRem
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Hajiya Zainab Kure, who represents Niger South constituency of Niger State sponsored the National Grazing Reserve Bill.
The bill is titled: ‘An Act To Provide For The Establishment Of The National Grazing Reserve (Establishment And Development) Commission For The Preservation And Control Of National Grazing Reserves And Stock Routes And Other Matters Connected Therewith’.
The bill was first brought before the 8th assembly but was rejected by the former House of Representatives.
In its second outing, the bill has so far scaled through the first and second reading in both House of Representatives and the National Assembly and will soon be passed into law if it survives a third reading and is assented to by the President, Muhammadu Buhari.
READ 5 things every Nigerians must know about the contentious bill...
1) The bill seeks to institutionalize pastoral farming
Although contemporary agricultural practices are moving towards more modernized forms of animal husbandry like ranching, the bill seeks to further the practice of pastoral farming by introducing grazing reserves and stock routes around the country.
The bill reads: “Fostering in the mind of the general public, particularly the Pastoral and transhumance population the necessity for the establishment and development of National Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes with the object of developing a greater appreciation of the value of livestock and environmental conservation.”
2) Under the Act, a national commission for grazing reserve will be established
The bill reads: “There is hereby established a body corporate to be known as the National Grazing Reserve Establishment and Development Commission (hereinafter referred to as “the Commission”).
“The Commission shall be a body Corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and may sue and be sued in its corporate name.”
Furthermore the commission will have a chairman appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate and other representatives
Photocredit: PUNCH
3) The commission will have the legal right to take any piece of land it wants, in any part of the country
The bill reads: “The following lands may be subject to the provisions of the Act to be constituted as National Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes:
(a) Lands at the disposal of the Federal Government of Nigeria
(b) Any lands in respect of which it appears to the Commission that grazing in such land should be practiced.
(c) Any land acquired by the Commission through purchase, assignment, gift or otherwise howsoever.”
4) The attorney general of the federation must approve any decision taken in relation to possession of lands by the commission
“No Court of law shall carry out execution of its judgment or attachment of court process issued against the Commission in any action or suit without obtaining the prior consent of the Attorney General of the Federation.”
5) The duties of the commission includes:
(a) Designating, acquiring, controlling, managing and maintaining the National Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes established under this Act.
(b) Constructing dams, roads, bridges fences and such other infrastructures the Commission may consider necessary for the purpose of the National Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes.
(c) Identification, retracing, demarcating, monumenting, and surveying of primary, secondary and tertiary stock routes.
(d)Conserving and preserving in its natural state the National Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes.
The bill is titled: ‘An Act To Provide For The Establishment Of The National Grazing Reserve (Establishment And Development) Commission For The Preservation And Control Of National Grazing Reserves And Stock Routes And Other Matters Connected Therewith’.
The bill was first brought before the 8th assembly but was rejected by the former House of Representatives.
In its second outing, the bill has so far scaled through the first and second reading in both House of Representatives and the National Assembly and will soon be passed into law if it survives a third reading and is assented to by the President, Muhammadu Buhari.
READ 5 things every Nigerians must know about the contentious bill...
1) The bill seeks to institutionalize pastoral farming
Although contemporary agricultural practices are moving towards more modernized forms of animal husbandry like ranching, the bill seeks to further the practice of pastoral farming by introducing grazing reserves and stock routes around the country.
The bill reads: “Fostering in the mind of the general public, particularly the Pastoral and transhumance population the necessity for the establishment and development of National Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes with the object of developing a greater appreciation of the value of livestock and environmental conservation.”
2) Under the Act, a national commission for grazing reserve will be established
The bill reads: “There is hereby established a body corporate to be known as the National Grazing Reserve Establishment and Development Commission (hereinafter referred to as “the Commission”).
“The Commission shall be a body Corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and may sue and be sued in its corporate name.”
Furthermore the commission will have a chairman appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate and other representatives
Photocredit: PUNCH
3) The commission will have the legal right to take any piece of land it wants, in any part of the country
The bill reads: “The following lands may be subject to the provisions of the Act to be constituted as National Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes:
(a) Lands at the disposal of the Federal Government of Nigeria
(b) Any lands in respect of which it appears to the Commission that grazing in such land should be practiced.
(c) Any land acquired by the Commission through purchase, assignment, gift or otherwise howsoever.”
4) The attorney general of the federation must approve any decision taken in relation to possession of lands by the commission
“No Court of law shall carry out execution of its judgment or attachment of court process issued against the Commission in any action or suit without obtaining the prior consent of the Attorney General of the Federation.”
5) The duties of the commission includes:
(a) Designating, acquiring, controlling, managing and maintaining the National Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes established under this Act.
(b) Constructing dams, roads, bridges fences and such other infrastructures the Commission may consider necessary for the purpose of the National Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes.
(c) Identification, retracing, demarcating, monumenting, and surveying of primary, secondary and tertiary stock routes.
(d)Conserving and preserving in its natural state the National Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes.
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