Pendency Of The National Grazing Reserve Bill At The National Assembly, Setting The Records Straight - ISCLRL

Our attention has, again, been drawn to public statements credited to some serving Senators in Nigeria to the effect that the National Grazing Reserve Bill is not before the Upper Chamber or Senate of the National Assembly. The latest of such statements was credited to the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu during his recent outing in Enugu. We wish to state strongly that the referenced public statements are deceitful, diversionary, distractive and misleading.The implication of such statements is that there is nothing like “the National Grazing Reserve Bill 2008 & 2016” before the National Assembly of Nigeria; whether passive or active; or that the Bill is nonexistent.

We had in our recent position paper sent to the National Assembly through the Senate President and the House Speaker, dated 26th of April 2016, disclosed as follows: “two Bills concerning the above subject matter, originally drawn from the National Grazing Reserve (Establishment & Development) Bill 2008, introduced and sponsored by Senator Zainab Kure of Niger South Senatorial District of Niger State in the 6th National Assembly (2007-2011); are presently before the House of Reps. The two Bills are aimed at creating grazing reserves, ranches and cattle reserves across the 36 states to be funded with public funds through the establishment of a National Grazing Reserve Commission, an agency to be placed under the direct control of President Muhammadu Buhari, who is also the national patron of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN)”.

Abduction of 20 Fulani women untrue - MACBAN

The Borno State chapter of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, known by the acronym MACBAN, on Thursday, denied media reports that Fulani women were abducted by Boko Haram members in Borno last week.

Alhaji Amadu Musa, who is Chairman of the MACBAN in Borno State, in an interview with newsmen in Maiduguri, the state capital, said the reported abduction of 20 Fulani women was “not true.”

“We need to tell the world that there is nothing like that. All (of) our women and girls are (safe and) intact. It takes us this long to respond because; we made series of consultations to avoid issuing conflicting statements that will generate tension.