MACBAN had said the anti-open grazing law could make a cow cost as much as N2 million.
Yoruba generalissimo, Gani Adams has blasted the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) for saying the anti-open grazing law being passed in Southern states will push up the cost of cows.
MACBAN had said the anti-open grazing law could make a cow cost as much as N2 million.
Adams, however, said the people of Southern Nigeria, especially the Yoruba people in the South-West will start eating fish and other alternatives to beef if the price of a cow rises to N2 million.
Adams, who spoke on Wednesday as a guest on PUNCH Online interview programme, The Roundtable, said the North cannot threaten the people of the South with the price of cattle.
Adams stated this in reaction to a statement credited to the Zonal Secretary of MACBAN during a one-day public hearing organised by the Lagos State House of Assembly on the anti-open grazing bill on September 8, 2021.
In order to put an end to the killing of farmers and destruction of farmlands by herdsmen in the region, the 17 governors in the southern region had fixed a September 1, 2021 as target date to enact the legislation.
The 17 southern governors, had in a meeting held in Lagos on July 5, 2021, urged states in the region to ensure that the legislation against open grazing of cattle was put in place on or before September 1.
Following the governors’ resolution, most of the states sent the bills to their respective assemblies.
Speaking on Wednesday, Adams commended the Southern governors for banning open grazing in the region and for backing the move legally.
He said, “Countries are moving towards creating a secure environment for their people and in a situation where a profession within agriculture is creating problems, creating insecurity for us in every region, the governors of the South have right to decide how to protect the lives and property of their citizens.
“I agree totally with the Southern governors on anti-grazing laws and I believe the best thing to do now is to implement that law and to watch the states and to even appeal to them that they should sign that bill backed (sic) their state assemblies into law because it is very important because of their citizens.
“If they said cows will cost N2 million, if it is too costly, we can subscribe to be eating fish and all other content that is eatable that we can use to balance our meals because our lives are very important – if you are lifeless, you can’t eat cow, if you are in an unsafe environment, you can’t eat cow.
“When you are living in a panic environment, there would be no economic buoyancy because investors will not come and invest in that environment.
“If they said that cows will be too expensive, we too will start our initiative based on ranching, we will start our own agricultural system and try to encourage our people to rear cows within our region. The Western Region had done it before and it succeeded by giving us our own livestock through the agricultural ministry.”
Adams also commended five governors in the South-West zone for starting the South-West Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun.
He therefore called on the Lagos state government and the other 11 state governments in Southern Nigeria to have a similar outfit to protect their people.