Senate |
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 on the platform of the People's Democratic
Party (PDP). She represents Niger South Senatorial District alongside
Senators Dahiru Awaisu Kuta (PDP) Niger East and Senator Ibrahim Musa
(APC) of Niger North respectively.
She has a BSc in
Political Science from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1984, and is
the wife of former Governor of Niger State between 1999 and May 2007.
According to This Day Newspaper reports, she had sponsored the National
Grazing Reserves Establishment and Development Commission Bill, 2008 and
the National Poverty Eradication Commission Bill, 2008.
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, with robust contributions.
The National Grazing Bill has Seven Parts.
Part 1, deals with
the establishment of the national Grazing Reserve Commission, and it's
powers, to be should controlled by a Governing Council whose membership
tenure shall be four years, comprising a Chairman, one representative
each from Federal Ministries of Agriculture Rural Development and Water
Resources, Health, Environment Housing and Urban Development, and
National Commission for Nomadic Education.
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.
The commission may
take over the ownership, control and management of any existing Grazing
Reserve and stock routes from any state government on agreed terms, with
the state concerned.
Before any land is
constituted as National Grazing Reserve, due notice shall be given to
the state governor where the land is situate, by the commission on
behalf of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the
intention of the commission, the location, size or limits of the land...
declaring its intention for the purposes of government or for the
particular use and benefits, wholly or in part, of any class of persons,
or for the benefit of any community, state, or local government.
Emphasis here is mine.
The Commission
shall pay compensation on any land acquired by the commission; Any
disputes over claim for compensation shall be referred to the Land Use
Allocation Committee of the State concerned; Commission has power to
enter into any negotiation with holders of Statutory or Customary Rights
of Occupancy for the purpose of assignment or alienation to the
Commission"
Part VI deals with
the Regulation of persons or class of persons to use the Grazing Areas,
Restrictions of conduct within the Grazing areas, offences which carry a
fine of N50,000= or imprisonment for five years or both.
Part VII called the
Miscellaneous Provisions restricts any legal action or suit against the
commission. A written notice shall first be given to the commission of
the intention to sue it or any member of the council; "No execution or
attachment of process shall be issued against the commission without the
consent of the Attorney General of the Federation" The Commission is
indemnified out of the assets of the commission against any proceeding
whether civil or criminal in which judgment is given... ."
The idea of this
bill is to take farming land belonging to communities, all over the
country, make it Federal land permanently held for any class of persons
it may fancy or please, and in this case it is for the economic, social,
and religious benefit of the cattle rearers, whom we know as Fulani
Herdsmen.
In the views of the
proponents of this bill, it may well be their answer to resolving the
communal clash between the Fulani Herds men, and rural farming
communities across this nation, but the bill is laden with potentially
explosive provisions.
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