Worried about the flagrant violation of the Delta State Anti-Open Grazing Law, which became effective in the state in 2021, the State House of Assembly Committee on Legislative Compliance has given Local Government Councils in the state a 17-day ultimatum to constitute Committees to enforce the law.
The Committee gave the ultimatum when it met with Heads of Personnel Management of the 25 Local Government Councils in the state at the press center of the State Assembly complex in Asaba on Tuesday.
Addressing the HPMs, now saddled with the responsibility of running the Councils after the expiration of the tenure of the immediate past Local Government Chairmen, the Legislative Compliance Committee Chairman, Rt. Hon Arthur Akpowowo, said laws were made by the State Assembly for the peace, order and good governance of the State.
Rt. Hon Akpowowo, who is the Deputy Speaker of the House, told the Administrative Heads of the Councils that the State Anti-Open Grazing Law was of great importance to the state, given the sad narratives of killings, maiming and raping of farmers by herdsmen, who often invaded farmlands with their cattle.
He emphasized that there was no justification for the violation of the law, urging the HPMs to immediately swing into action to ensure compliance in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
Rt. Hon Akpowowo said the LGA Committees should consist of critical stakeholders, including security agencies, adding that they should make grazing fields available to herders on lease, arrest any cattle found grazing openly and impose the appropriate fines spelt out in the law, which he maintained they must acquaint themselves with.
In their contributions, some members of the Committee, including Hon (Engr) Emeka Nwaobi, who is the Majority Leader of the House; the Minority Leader, Hon Dafe Emakpor and the Chief Whip, Hon Perkins Umukoro, urged the HPMs to take the enforcement of the Anti-Open Grazing Law seriously, as the Assembly would be failing in its responsibility if the laws enacted by it could not be enforced.
They said the law was to protect farmers, some of whom had either been killed, maimed or raped in their farms by herdsmen
Responding on behalf of his colleagues, the Chairman, Dean of HPMs in the state, Mr Austin Emaduku, thanked the Committee for engaging them in the fruitful discussion aimed at enforcing compliance with the law, which regrettably had been violated to the detriment of those it was meant to protect.
Mr Emaduku pledged the readiness of the HPMs to constitute the enforcement Committees as directed, even as he revealed that the Councils might face some challenges in the course of enforcement, including lack of funds, operational vehicles, among others.
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