Obaseki: Why Edo Is Yet To Enact Anti-Open Grazing Law

Forum 2 years ago

Obaseki: Why Edo Is Yet To Enact Anti-Open Grazing Law

Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki has stated why the anti-open grazing law is yet to be enacted in his state.

The governor stated that there is no value in having a law that cannot be enforced and implemented.

Speaking at a stakeholders town hall meeting in Benin, Edo state capital, on Monday, Obaseki said it is important to first address the root of the acrimony between herders and host communities.

The governor stated that the country’s leaders must not “play politics” with the issue, adding that they must deal with it “honestly and openly”.

He said:

“We are one of the w states that have not signed the bill into law, and the reason is simple. To sign a law is very simple, it doesn’t make sense to put out a law you cannot enforce.

“The best way of enforcifeng a law is to bring everybody together to be part of that law. We have a crisis in our country, it is deeply rooted, there are different causes why these are happening, let us go to the root of the causes and resolve it from there.

“People have said that we have lived a hundred years together in harmony before now, why are we now having this problem today.

“If we don’t go to the reason why, then we will be scratching the surface. Let us start by understanding why we are having this challenge. To sign a law is very easy, it doesn’t make sense to put out a law that you cannot enforce.

“The anti-grazing law in my view is to deal with some perception. I just want to tell you that this is not an issue between Christians and Muslims, it is not an issue between north and south, it is not an issue between Edo people and Fulani people.

“As long as we have decided that we will eat meats and drink milk, we will now have to sit down and rearrange the business on how we will get the people who are producing the meat on how they must organise themselves.

“Let us not play politics with this issue, let us deal with this issue honestly and openly. There are security implications because some people have now joined and using these herders to perpetrate insecurity.”