Oyo Govt’s anti-grazing law stands –Adisa

Stephen Gbadamosi, Ibadan

The Chief Press Secretary to Governor ‘Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, has declared that the state is not about to deviate from the provisions of its anti-open grazing law, contrary to insinuations in a section of the media.

The governor’s media aide, in a statement, on Thursday, said a section of Nigerians misinterpreted Governor Makinde’s submission on the implementation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) in the state.

According to him, the governor only announced the desire to implement aspects of the NLTP that were compliant with the anti-open grazing law of the state, assented to on Thursday, October 31, 2019.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Governor Makinde’s reference to Oyo State’s desire to implement the NLTP refers mainly to aspects of the plan that are compliant with the anti-open grazing law of the state.

“Section 6(1-7) of the law provides the processes by which a livestock owner shall secure land for a ranch, while sections 7(1-4) stipulates the approval process by which a herder or livestock owner can secure a permit to operate the ranch.

“The law stipulates that a livestock owner shall apply in writing to the landowner or the family in possession of the land meant for ranching; the family shall forward the application to the Ministry of Agriculture, which will forward the same to the Ministry of Environment to conduct Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
“A report of the EIA would be forwarded to the governor, who may grant the approval if he finds the report suitable.

“The Oyo State anti-open grazing law provides punishments for open grazing and child herding, while it also provides that ranch owners ought to mandatorily fence their ranches,” he said.

Adisa added that Governor Makinde had while hosting his Kwara State counterpart, Governor Abdulrasaq Abdulrahman, made it clear that the state government would only take advantage of “lateral learnings” in the livestock programme being implemented in Kwara, with a view to collaborating on security and the economic aspects.

In a related development, Adisa said on Wednesday that claims that the state was about to lose a World Bank loan to the tune of $200 million were unfounded and a misrepresentation.

The spokesman to the governor, who was reacting to media reports to that effect, said those peddling the rumour just to kept their names afloat in the media were mischievous and clearly behind the news.

In a statement on Wednesday, Adisa said Governor Makinde had, in a detailed explanation, on a recently-held state television programme, “The Governor Explains,” spoken on the real state of the said World Bank loan.

According to him, the governor had explained that the total loan was $200 million and that before he came into office, the previous administration had already spent $50 million and also committed $100 million to projects.

“So it remains $50 million which the management of the projects wants to use to do some works.

“Recall that the Commissioner for Finance in the State, Mr. Akinola Ojo, who supervises the Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP), which is managing the loan, stated in a release on February 15 that the management of the projects was following due process in awarding the last batch of contracts.

“He also stated that the state government and the World Bank were not at loggerheads over the project, adding that due process was strictly being followed.

“Ojo had also stated that it was unfortunate that some media houses misrepresented facts and figures to drag the project into unnecessary controversy.

“A coordinator of the project, Dayo Ayorinde, had equally said that the claims that the state would lose the said funds were unfounded, adding that the report was false in its entirety.

“‘It negates the reality of the situation in the bidding process as well as the process of engaging contractors for the Second Pool of works at the IUFMP.

“To the best of our knowledge, there was no query to the state government from the World Bank. The Bidding Process is on course; the two parties involved (the Oyo State Government and the World Bank) are positively engaging the Bid Evaluation Report (BER) through the PIU, and the process is within the schedule,’ the coordinator had said in the statement made public in February,” he said.

Adisa stated that by “rehashing the unfounded story,” the promoters had shown themselves as agents of fake news which the whole world had been preaching against.