Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has rejected President Muhammadu Buhari’s call for the continuation of open grazing for herdsmen.
Trac( recalls that 17 southern governors had after a meeting in Delta State imposed a ban on open grazing in the region.
But President Muhammadu Buhari had directed states to revive cattle grazing routes across the country.
The president stated this during an interview with Arise Television which was aired on Thursday.
He disclosed that he has asked Nigeria’s Attorney General, Abubakar Malami to begin the process of recovering land from persons who have converted cattle grazing routes for their personal use.
Buhari said the grazing routes were designated in the 1st Republic when “Nigerians use to obey laws” but those routes had been converted.
“What I did was ask him to go and dig the gazette of the 1st Republic when people were obeying laws,” he said.
Speaking at a June 12 Memorial Lecture in Akure, Akeredolu stated that things have changed and the system used in the First Republic can no longer work.
“Where we are now, the Dome, something was here before, so now are we going to bring it back and reinstate what was here before?” Akeredolu asked rhetorically.
“Or where the Deji of Akure’s Palace is now, you say that it is a grazing route and we have to remove the palace for grazing route? We can’t do that now.
“Things are changing and there has to be a paradigm shift.
“Ethiopia has about 200 million cattle and you won’t see them on the streets. They are located in the hinterlands designated for grazing.”
