Anti-open grazing law not implementable, says El-Rufai

• Seeks N130bn for 13 cattle ranches

Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai says the anti-open grazing law being enacted by some southern governors is not implementable.

He accused the southern governors of politicising the situation.

He said his state had embarked on a N10bn cattle ranch project to centralise all herders in the state.

Addressing newsmen after a meeting with officials of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, El-Rufai said the project would be completed in two years.

He said the Central Bank of Nigeria was supporting the state with about N7.5bn for the success of the project.

He said the northern states governors’ forum had taken a position that open grazing is not a sustainable way of livestock production, but ranching.

“But moving towards ranching cannot be done overnight. We have to have a plan; we have to have resources and we have to implement it sensibly. We’ve taken a position as northern state governors and we’re implementing that.

“In my state for instance, we’re developing a huge ranch to centralize the herders. And that is the solution a long time. But can it be done overnight? No.

“And I hope that the Fulani herdsmen will see that there are alternative ways of producing livestock instead of running up and down with cattle going to people’s farms to cause all kinds of problems. We want to solve the problem.

“What is unhelpful is politicising the situation and passing legislation that you know that you cannot implement. So, we have taken a position and we are working round the clock to implement that position.

“These herders emanate from the North and we are going to centralise them. We cannot do it overnight. We need billions of naira. This is just one ranch that is costing N10bn.

“I’ve 14 grazing reserves in Kaduna State and I’ll like to turn them into ranches. Do I have 14 times N10bn? I don’t have,” the governor said.