Yesterday, the Senate advanced a Bill for the second reading to establish the National Animal Husbandry and Ranches Commission after a heated debate. Titled “A Bill for an Act for the Regulation of Animal Husbandry and Ranches Establishment in Nigeria as a Panacea for Farmers-Herders Crises,” it was sponsored by Senator Titus Tartenger Zam of Benue North-West.
If enacted, this legislation aims to regulate cattle rearing and ranching across Nigeria, including the establishment of ranches in pastoralists’ states of origin. However, Northern senators opposed the Bill, arguing it violated the 1999 Constitution and ECOWAS protocols on free movement.
Senator Zam, in his lead debate, contended that the commission would mitigate the violent clashes between sedentary farmers and nomadic herders. He highlighted the lack of a regulatory framework for pastoralism as a catalyst for these conflicts, emphasizing the need for modern animal husbandry practices and legislation to end open grazing.
Despite opposition from senators like Danjuma Goje (APC, Gombe Central), Adamu Aliero (Kebbi State), and Abdulrahman Kawu Sumaila (NNPP, Kano South), who argued the Bill was discriminatory and contravened existing protocols, other senators supported it, believing it would help manage the farmers/herders crisis.
Ultimately, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, put the Bill to a voice vote, and it passed. It was subsequently referred to the Joint Senate Committee on Agriculture and Judiciary and Legal Matters for further legislative input, with a report expected in four weeks.
