Senators from the 17 states in the south on Wednesday applauded the decision of the Southern Governors Forum (SGF) to ban open grazing in the region.

The senators stated that the position of the governors from the region will help to end kidnapping, killing and other vices in the region.

The governors of the 17 southern states had in a communique after a four-hour meeting at Asaba, Delta State, on Tuesday, resolved to ban the open grazing practice.

In a 12-point communique read by the Chairman of the SGF, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo state, the governors also called for restructuring of the country, decongestion of Lagos and others.

In a joint statement by Chairman of the SSF, Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti), General Secretary, Mathew Uroghide (PDP, Edo) and Publicity Secretary, Chukwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu), the forum called on the governors to ensure implementation of the resolutions.

They said the decision of the governors would help to address growing food insecurity across the country.

“At this critical point of our national life when the economy was being bedevilled by galloping inflation, youth unemployment and insecurity, food security is very crucial to mitigate the effects of these diverse evils on the citizens,” the forum said.

“Available records have shown that attaining food security status would remain a mirage in the south owing to ravaging effect of outdated livestock grazing policy being unleashed on farmlands by some unscrupulous herders.

“Most appalling were the seemingly unabated kidnapping, raping and killing of our people by suspected herdsmen, who have become bandits heating up the system.

“With this uniform resolve by our Governors to initiate no-open grazing policy, the region will return to its peaceful and agriculturally self -sufficient status it had assumed even long before Nigeria’s amalgamation in 1914.”

In the same vein, members of House of Representatives from the 17 states in Southern Nigeria have also endorsed the 12-point communique issued by the state governors.

In a statement released by Ndudi Elumelu (PDP, Delta) and signed by 20 lawmakers, across the two major political parties (Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) and from the three geopolitical zones, the federal lawmakers hailed the decisions of the governors.

Some of the lawmakers that signed the statement include the Deputy Leader of the House, Peter Akpatason (APC, Edo), Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu (PDP, Enugu), Deputy Chief Whip, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha (APC, Abia), Leader of the PDP Caucus, Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers) and others.

The lawmakers said the “position is in a firm restatement of our insistence that our nation must exist and govern on the platform of democratic tenets of social justice, equity, fairness, mutual respect, true federalism, rule of law and constitutional order, and we are ready to deploy all legislative instruments at our disposal for actualisation.

“Against this backdrop, members of the House of Representatives from the South, without regard to any other affiliations, firmly support our governors on the immediate ban on open cattle grazing across Southern Nigeria.”

They expressed commitment to national dialogue “to ensure fairness, justice, equity to engender national stability, productivity, and peaceful co-existence.”

The lawmakers also called for the creation of more ports in the southern part of the country, to ensure the decongestion of Lagos.

They also promised to use the ongoing constitutional amendment process to ensure the speedy process of the reforms recommended by the governors.

“Furthermore, our platform commends our governors for the concern for the asphyxiation of economic activities in Southern Nigeria resulting from the continued congestion in ports in Lagos and the gridlock on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.

“This challenge has led to losses in billions of naira to businesses and other economic activities in the industrial and commercial activities of not only in the Southern Nigeria but the nation at large.”

PT