ON MAY 1, 2016, The Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, said that there was no bill on the creation of grazing reserves before the National Assembly.
But despite denials by government and NASS spokesmen, ON JUNE 22, 2016 the controversial bill for the establishment of a National Grazing Reserves Agency reappeared before the Senate and scaled the first reading.
Ekweremadu had also said the National Assembly will not support the creation of grazing reserves anywhere in the country.
Addressing newsmen that Sunday after a meeting of the South East governors and stakeholders in Enugu, he said that the purported bill for the creation of grazing reserves was a “hoax’’, adding that the press should strive to stop such rumours.
“There is no such proposal or bill on the creation of grazing reserves either in the Senate or House of Representatives.
“Nobody is considering it; not even at the executive level. I do not think they are considering it but we will not support it even if it has been considered,” he said.
Ekweremadu said that the meeting was convened in reaction to the attack on the people of Uzo Uwani by suspected herdsmen.
The National Grazing Reserves Agency Bill was sponsored by Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, All Progressives Congress, APC, Kano Central and co-sponsored by others.
The National Grazing Reserves Bill that which has passed already second reading in the House of Representatives, has been generating ripples in the southern part of the country and some parts of the north especially against the backdrop of frequent clashes between Fulani Herdsmen and farmers across the country which has led to killings, kidnapping and wanton destruction of property.
The bill, which may become law when it passes the last and third reading in the House of Representatives and assented to by the president, seeks to establish grazing reserves and stock routes for cattle rearers in all the states of the country.