Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri has declared there are no grazing routes in the state for the Federal Government to reopen.
Africa Daily News, New York recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari had in an interview with Arise TV last week disclosed that he had directed for grazing routes to be reopened across the country to curb the incessant farmers/herders crisis in the country.
However speaking in his maiden media chat over the weekend, Diri reacted saying that there are no such routes in the state.
He explained that although he was not countering the federal government’s decision to resuscitate grazing routes, his administration had put in place a legal framework to ban open grazing and movement of cattle on foot.
Read Also: Buhari Backs Open Grazing, Ask AGF To Recover Land For Herders
The Bayelsa governor also emphasised that the southern governors had adopted the same position on the issue as part of measures to check farmers/herders clashes across the country added that his government could not afford to expose its citizenry to the looming danger.
His words: ‘For us, there are no cattle grazing routes in Bayelsa State. Our people are traditionally and occupationally fishermen. The idea of cattle grazing routes in Bayelsa is very strange to us in this part of the country.’
Senator Diri, who pointed out that in a federal system of government, states have the rights to enact laws to regulate the activities of its people, stressed that the prohibition on open grazing of cattle would be fully implemented in the state.
‘There may be cattle grazing routes in the north but what is applicable in the north may not be applicable to us in the south. I don’t want to believe we are running a unitary system of government.’ he added.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
