Benue set to outlaw open grazing – House Speaker

Benue State government will, this month, outlaw open grazing in any part of the state to stem unending herdsmen/farmers crisis.

Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Terkimbi Ikyange, gave the indication yesterday when he hosted the leadership of the Movement Against Fulani Occupation, MAFO, in Makurdi.

Ikyange, who said the House took into account the agitation of MAFO while deliberating on the Anti-Open Grazing Bill before the House, explained that the decision to ban open grazing in the state was in line with global practice.

According to him, 'the law will be passed before the end of December because even in countries where beef production is the main stay of the economy, cattle are confined in ranches. We, therefore, have no reason not to have such in Benue State.'

Earlier, leader of the delegation, Rev. Father Solomon Ukeyima, lamented that he had lost many of his parishioners to the incessant herdsmen/farmers crisis, adding that Federal Government had failed to protect vulnerable farmers from the activities of marau-ding herdsmen in the state.