Anti Grazing Bill: It Doesn’t Make Sense To Enact A Law That You Can’t Enforce – Governor Obaseki

The executive Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki has stated the reason he failed to transmit the Anti-Open Grazing Bill to the state House of Assembly and sign it into law, as agreed at the Southern Governors conference.

Appearing at a public hearing on the bill hosted by the state government, Obaseki remarked that signing the measure into law is simple, but that enacting unenforceable legislation is pointless.

The Governor warned citizens not to politicize the situation, but added that there are security concerns because some people have “joined and are utilizing these herders to prolong unrest.”

He said; “To sign the law is always easy, but it doesn’t make sense to enact a law that you can’t enforce.

“The best way to enforce a law is to bring everybody that is affected together so that nobody would say this is not what we agreed on and the law can then be enforced.

“As long as we’ve decided that we’ll eat meat and drink milk, we’ll have to sit down and rearrange the business, engaging the people who are producing these foods on how they must organize themselves.

“Let’s not play politics with this issue; let’s deal with it honestly and openly. There are security implications because some people have now joined and are using these herders to perpetuate insecurity.

“My worry is that if we don’t separate them so that we can know those people using cattle herding to perpetrate crime and insecurity in our state, we’ll be missing the point.

“There are people doing their legitimate business of herding cattle and producing meat, and there are criminals who want to destabilize our country and state.”