Deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu on Sunday, May 1, 2016, dismissed the claim there was a National Grazing Bill before the Nigerian Senate, saying there is no such bill before the upper chamber of the National Assembly.
Ekweremadu, who spoke with journalists after a meeting of South East governors and political leaders in Enugu, added that the Nigerian senate will not support a bill to establish grazing reserve anywhere in the country.
The deputy senate president said the alleged bill was a rumour and called on media managers to dissuade the mind of the public from thinking about such a non-existing bill. But, what Ekweremadu did not say is that the bill is before the House of Representatives and a copy of the controversial bill can be downloaded from the website of the National Assembly.
The National Grazing Bill is published on the National Assembly website and can be downloadedHERE.
“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,” Ekweremadu said.
Ekweremadu said that the meeting was convened in reaction to the attack on the people of Uzo Uwani by suspected herdsmen.
He said the meeting reviewed all that happened since then and thanked all stakeholders who had shown sympathy to victims of the attack.
Ekweremadu said that the meeting looked at a more regional approach to curbing the menace of the herdsmen so as to ensure that it did not happen again.
“We are looking at a concrete and more coordinated approach on how to protect our people from this carnage,” he said.
