The Oyo State House of Assembly has urged Governor Seyi Makinde to inaugurate the Open Grazing Prohibition Task Force in the state for the enforcement of the anti-open rearing and grazing law.
The House noted at its sitting on Tuesday that the task force would help in curtailing clashes and the increasing spate of killings, kidnappings, banditry, armed robbery, cult clash and other forms of crimes across the state.
Two lawmakers, Babajide Adebayo (Ibadan North 2) and Kazeem Isiaka (Oyo East/West), who jointly sponsored the motion, expressed worries that insecurity has assumed a dangerous dimension in the state with a negative toll on its socio-economic activities.
The state House of Assembly said the incessant herders/farmers clashes and destruction of farmlands by cattle could only be effectively addressed if the state government embarks on full implementation of anti-open rearing and grazing law which had already been passed into law.
They were unanimous in stating that “In line with the provision of the law, there is need for the state government to establish the Open Grazing Prohibition Task Force to implement and ensure full compliance with the law.”
The House charged its Committee on Agriculture to liaise with the state government on the processes of implementing the law and the level of progress made on the applications of the anti-open hearing and grazing law.
Taking turns to condemn the current situation in the state, the lawmakers recalled that lives of many promising indigenes of state had been cut short by the criminals in Ibarapaland and Oke Ogun zones as well as other part of the state by kidnappers suspected to be of Fulani descent.
In their remarks, Akeem Adedibu (Iwajowa), Sunkanmi Babalola (Egbeda) and member representing Ibarapa Central/North State Constituency, Peter Ojedokun, individually recounted their close encounters or that of their loved ones with the kidnappers and wondered why it was difficult for security agents in the state to track down the criminals whom, they said, collected huge ransom from their victims and also killed many of them.
Other principal officials of the House, who decried a situation where some criminals have taken over the forest reserves in the state, tasked the Amotekun Corps and Security Agents to comb all the suspected hideouts and other hotspots used by criminals in the state.
They urged all security agencies within the state to work in partnership with the current administration towards achieving a crime free society.
The Speaker, Adebo Ogundoyin, assured the public that the state House of Assembly was not against any particular ethnic group in the state.
He, however, urged security agents to deal decisively with criminal elements breaching the peace, saying that “The legislature will give all necessary support to the state government towards ensuring full implementation of necessary laws, including the anti-open rearing and grazing law.
“The use of Open Grazing Prohibition Task Force will help greatly in the implementation of the law.”
