On Tuesday the 12th of October 2021, the Anambra state House of Assembly passed into law, the “Anambra State Open Grazing of Cattle and Other Livestock Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Bill 2021”. The long and short of the matter is that Anambra became the 7th state in Southern Nigeria to make it illegal for herdsmen to traverse the breadth of Anambra state with their cattle, destroying farms and livelihoods of hardworking farmers. The bill also opened up the possibility for ranching activities in certain parts of the state.
What makes this law and all the others from the various states interesting, is that it is not clear what the process for legal drafting entailed. In the South there are now only 3 states yet to pass the law, one of which is my beloved home state, Edo State.
Like many of my brothers and sisters, I had pondered the delay in doing something so simple, especially since the early adopters of this legislation must have provided a template to follow. It came as welcome news therefore, when I received an invitation to attend one of the stakeholder meetings organised to discuss this salient issue.
After observing proceedings from this event, I left with a renewed sense of anger and frustration at some of the comments I had been following, especially on the social media. I have never written to a newspaper before but, once the issues became clear to me, I decided to speak out once and for all on this matter.
How dare Obaseki insist that all people from all sections of the Edo State population have their say in the development of this new legislation? Of what benefit is it for my kin, the Afemai Butcher from Edo North, or his brother in New Benin market from Edo South to be included in the deliberation process? Have we become so politically blind that it is impossible for us to think and reason critically? What are the issues, and why the intense negative comments that almost seem so coordinated to paint as black anything that this man does? I am not and will never be a political apologist. In fact, I had my political choice and did not vote for Godwin Obaseki in the last election. But I am hopeful that since they won, they will have the interest of all our people at heart. And on this matter, what is the hoopla about taking time to consult with the people involved in various aspects of the meat production value chain?
This is the result when we politicise straightforward economic matters. Of course, it should be illegal for people to bring their animals to feast on the sweat and blood of hard-working farming communities. It should also be criminal for them to kill, rape and literally destroy the lives of many of our farmers have had to resort to self-help to protect themselves and their investments. What should however be frowned upon is the current trend to utilise this sensitive issue to divide and conquer Nigerians. There is a deliberate attempt to stoke negative tensions and it is important that we resist this most unproductive form of self-destructive politics… politics of “as long as I don’t like his face, everything he does is bad”.
It is time for us as a people to wake up to the realities of the small minority groups of people, especially politicians whose interests will not be served by the Nigerian project. They have taken this issue and made a whole new issue out of it. Let us focus on the facts as they are. We must adopt a well-measured approach to something that affects all of us as a people.
So, if insisting that due process and robust consultations must precede the passage of any anti-open grazing law makes Obaseki a bad leader, then carry on with your “good leaders” who do not see any reason to carry their people along.
At this moment in time, he is our Obaseki. Leave him for us.
Dr. Innocent Osagie
University of Benin
