Abia Assembly to pass anti-grazing bill

Deputy speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly and the chairman, House Committee on Information, Rt. Hon.Cosmos Ndukwe, on Wednesday said the House would soon pass into law the anti-grazing bill before it.

Ndukwe made this known while interacting with newsmen at the Assembly complex in Umuahia. According to him, the House was mindful of the fact that the farming season was almost around the corner, and that the farmers needed some security as they go into farming season, hence the need for accelerated passage of the bill into law to curtail the occasional clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the state.

On the delayed passage of 2018 appropriation bill by the State House of Assembly, the Deputy Speaker said that the committee has done its duty by extending invitation to the MDAs to defend their budget proposals, adding that the house would not approve any money for any MDAs if the purpose of such money could not be defended.

He further pointed out that by the end of this week, the house will go ahead to pass the appropriation bill into law for only those MDAs who were able to defend their budget proposals.

His words: ‘Very soon, We will pass the anti grazing bill before us. You can see the clashes between farmers and herdsmen, so we will ensure accelerated passage of the bill curtail to the occasional clashes between farmers and herders’.

“Also on the delayed passage of 2018 appropriation bill, the committee has done their work well by ensuring all the MDA’s in the state defend their budget proposal. And let it be made known to the MDA’s that the house will not approve any budget for any MDA’s if the purpose of such budget can not be defended”, he said.