By Clement Udegbe
A NATIONAL
Grazing Bill which the leadership of Senate has said is not with it continues
to generate heated debate. And for good reason. This bill should be questioned
because of its ethno-religious implications. It is important that we know this
bill, even if in a general way, so as to make useful discourse of it. The bill
known as A Bill for An Act 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 for Other Matters
Connected Therewith, was sponsored by Senator Zainab Kure.
Hajiya Zainab
Abdulkadir Kure is a Senator, whose political career at the Upper legislative
house started in 2007 elected for the Niger South constituency of Niger State Ahmadu Bello University , Zaria
Born on November 24,
1959, Senator Kure’s dream as a youth was to become a top Customs or
Immigration officer. This was however, not to be, no thanks to her
father-in-law who put an end to that ambition. Today, she is making waves at
the National Assembly in Abuja
Part II, of
the Bill deals with Functions of the Commission which includes, designating,
acquiring, controlling, managing, maintaining, the National Grazing Reserves
and Stocks Routes; Constructing of dams, roads, bridges, fences and
infrastructure considered necessary; Identification, retracing, demarcating,
monumenting, and surveying of primary, secondary, and tertiary stock routes;
Conserving and preserving in its natural state the National Grazing Reserves
and Stock Routes; Ensuring the preservation and protection of any objects of
geological archaeological historical aesthetic or scientific interests in the
National Grazing Reserves and Stocks Routes; the development of facilities and
amenities within the national Grazing Reserves; Fostering in the mind the
general public, particularly the pastoral and transhumance population the
necessity for the establishment and development of the National Grazing
Reserves and Stocks Routes with the object of developing a greater appreciation
of the value of livestock and environmental conservation; And doing all such
things which the commission may calculate and consider incidental to the
foregoing functions.
Part III deals with
appointment of the Reserve Controller and other Staff of the commission some of
which may be seconded from other government offices; their functions, and
structure of the commission. Part IV deals with financial provisions for the
commission including that the commission may, subject to the Land Use Act,
acquire any land for the purpose of discharging its functions. Part V, is the
source of concern, its states in part; “The following lands may subject to this
Act be constituted as National Grazing Reserve and Stock Routes- Any land at
the disposal of the Federal Government; Any land in respect of which it appears
to the commission that Grazing on such land should be practiced, and any land
acquired by the commission through purchase, assignment, gift, or otherwise
howsoever; Any land in respect of which it appears to the commission that
primary, secondary, or tertiary routes be established.
