Anti-Open Grazing Law: Benue to auction confiscated livestock
- Benue state commissioner for information Onoja said the state executive council approved the release of N261 million as counterpart fund for IFAD
- Onoja said livestock were confiscated from some cattle owners in the state who violated the subsisting law against open grazing
- He maintained that the government has given the livestock owners up to March 19 to pay stipulated fines to the state ministry of agriculture to claim their animals
The Benue state government on Thursday, March 15, directed its ministry of finance to appoint a registered auctioneer to auction livestock confiscated in violation of the state anti-open grazing Law 2017.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the commissioner for information, Lawrence Onoja, disclosed this while briefing journalists after the state executive council meeting in Makurdi.
Onoja said the livestock were confiscated from some cattle owners in the state who violated the subsisting law against open grazing.
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The commissioner said the government also gave the livestock owners up to March 19 to pay stipulated fines to the state ministry of agriculture to claim their animals.
He said failure of the owners to do so will result in the livestock being auctioned as from March 20.
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Onoja also disclosed that the council approved the release of N261 million as counterpart fund for International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) programme in the state.
He said the council also approved the constitution of the debt management committee for the state, similar to the Debt Management Office (DMO) at the federal level.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that Former president Olusegun Obasanjo thrown his weight behind the Benue state’s anti-open grazing law.
Obasanjo allegedly advised Benue state governor, Samuel Ortom, not to give up on the anti-open grazing law, urging him to continue to work with people that have the state's and the nation’s interest at heart, the Independent reports.
The former president insisted that Nigeria needed to get it right for it to move forward.
Victims of Herdsmen killing buried in Benue State - on Legit.ng TV:
Source: Legit.ng
