‘Why ethnic minorities, others oppose grazing reserve bill’

Govt urged to protect Plateau Christian councils

A MEMBER of the House of Representatives, Hon. Bitrus Kaze (Jos South/Jos East, Plateau State), has described the Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes Bill before the National Assembly as draconian and assured his constituents and other ethnic minorities in the country that all efforts would be made to ensure that it does not sail through.

The lawmaker said the bill was a flagrant violation of the 1999 Constitution as “it runs counter to the provisions of the Land Use Act.” He noted that the issue has generated widespread concern because it borders on the importance of land in the polity because “over 85 per cent of Nigerians rely on it for their livelihood.”

The 1978 Land Use Act has the strong backing of the 1999 Constitution as amended, he said, stressing: “The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 section 315(5) provides that nothing should invalidate any of its provisions, which shall continue to apply as any other constitutional provisions, and shall not be repealed except in accordance with the rigorous provisions for the alteration of the constitution itself.”

According to him, under the bill, for any land to be constituted as National Grazing Reserve, “all that is required is a mere notice to the state governor where the land is situated, and the governor in each state shall co-operate with the commission.”

He said that the bill provides that whenever any land has been so designated, “no person shall alienate any rights affecting the land howsoever, except with the consent of the commission.”

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has been implored to urgently address the security challenges in Riyom, Barkin Ladi and Jos South local councils. The two councils have been rocked by crises for over a decade. A group, Berom Youth Moulders (BYM), which made the call, also stressed that if the ugly trend was allowed to continue, the common doom of the ethnic nationality was imminent.

At a press conference, BYM Chairman, Rwang Dangtong, said the killing spree in Berom land was getting more ferocious.
Kaze quoted the Northern Nigeria Grazing Reserve Law of 1965, which provided that “any native and the chief or head of any native community shall be entitled to enter into any agreement to grant and convey absolutely to the government any lands and rights over any lands owned by him or them.”

He added: “Whereas the 1965 law provided for aggrieved customary land owners to institute legal action up to the High Court level, this right has been expunged from the bill!”

He emphasised that the territorial expansion contemplated by the draconian provisions of the bill violates the 1999 Constitution. According to him, “rather than solve any security problem, the discriminatory provisions of the bill, if passed, will certainly worsen the age-long clashes between farmers and pastoralists.”

Dangtong went on: “When normalcy is about being achieved, pockets of killings occur with the Special Task Force (STF) not far from the scene. The action and inaction of the force makes us believe that some of the men of the STF have been recruited as mercenaries in this unending violence.

“The sophisticated arms paraded by the STF last week were not recovered from the youths arrested at Du but perhaps from previous exercises, but they just want to make the victims look like the aggressors”.

He further stated that the STF’s claim of “unknown” gunmen carrying out attacks and disappearing without trace is destroying confidence among the peace-loving Berom people and their neighbours.

Dantong called on the Military High Command to begin a thorough investigation of some soldiers of fortune within the STF and bring them to book. Four persons were recently killed by gunmen in Riyom barely a week after two people also died during alleged cattle rustling and attacks in Du Village.