Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, on Thursday signed into law the Bill to Regulate Animal Grazing and Establishment of Cattle Ranching in Ogun State.
Abiodun, who assented to the bill during a Security Council meeting in the State Secretariat at Oke Mosan, Abeokuta, called on the security agencies to swing immediately into action and enforce provisions of the law.
He said that this is a subject matter that has been discussed along the length and breadth of the country and which “we southern governors have discussed and endorsed.”
He noted that Ogun State had enjoyed peace among various ethnic nationalities until the recent farmer-herder skirmishes.
Governor Abiodun said cattle rearers have a six-month period of grace before it becomes illegal in Ogun State for cattle rearers to occupy unapproved public areas and private land with their livestock for grazing.
A committee headed by the state’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Adeola Odedina, has been set up to midwife the implementation and enforcement of the new law.
It is expected that the anti-open grazing law will prevent the spread of herder-farmer clashes across the state.
Abiodun said, “By implication, in six months, it will become unlawful to openly graze cattle or other livestock in the state.”
The Ogun State House of Assembly had on July 8, 2021, passed the bill.