El-Rufail: Anti-open grazing law politicised, would fail

Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State has criticised southern governors for signing anti-open grazing laws in their states, saying that the legislation cannot be implemented and had been politicised.

The 17 southern governors had met on three different occasions in recent months this year and agreed to enact the anti-open grazing laws as a means of curtailing the spate of insecurity in the region.

The governors had set September 1 as the deadline for the law to be enacted in states across the region.

But speaking at a forum on ‘Human Capital Development Communications Strategy Validation Meeting’, organised by vice president, Yemi Osinbajo-led National Economic Council in Abuja on Tuesday evening, El-Rufai, said such law was not the solution to the problem, adding that the Governors were only playing to the gallery.

Read also: Delta Assembly passes anti-open grazing bill

The Kaduna State governor, however, suggested that states should embrace ranching as the solution to ending herdsmen/ farmer’s violence and herder’s atrocities in the country, pointing out that the Northern States Governors Forum had agreed on ranching.

The Kaduna governor added that ranching must be implemented in a manner where everyone would be carried along.

According to him, “What is unhelpful is the politicising of the situation with legislation that you know that you cannot implement. “We must move towards ranching. But moving towards ranching cannot be done overnight. We have to plan. We have to have resources.

“We must move towards ranching. But moving towards ranching cannot be done overnight. We have to plan. We have to have resources,” El-Rufai said.