El-Rufai upgrades 17 grazing reserve

As part of efforts of Kaduna State government to improve its economic status, 17 grazing reserves, some of which were established in 1944, have been revived by administration of Governor Nasir el-Rufai.

Manzo Daniel Maigari, commissioner for agriculture and forestry, who stated this in Kaduna while briefing the media on the activities of his ministry in the past 12 months, clarified that the state government was not reviving the reserves only, but looking at how they could be turned into commercial pasture hubs as done in other climes.

According to Maigari, there is existing committee set up to take proper records of visiting headsmen into the grazing reserves, but expressed worry that somewhere along the line, the committee has not been doing that thereby giving room for visiting herdsmen to use the facility without trace.

The commissioner said the grazing reserves would be gazetted in such a way that it would create employment opportunity for other people, apart from cattle owners.

“These grazing reserves have been existing for a long time. For example, that of Kachia was established in 1944, but they were abandoned.

“Now, the present government has decided to revive these grazing reserves because they have been gazetted. No community is affected by these grazing land, so the issue of paying compensation to anybody does not arise,” he said.

Also speaking, Andrew Nok, commissioner for health, said efforts were in top gear to complete 300-bed hospital in the millennium city in Kaduna town.

The state government is also upgrading Barrau Diko Specialist Hospital to state owned university teaching hospital, while over 100 workers including medical doctors, nurses, laboratory attendant are available to sensitise people over the development, he said.