Okowa Slams Buhari Over Fresh Order On Grazing Reserves

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to shelve the idea of reviving 368 grazing reserves in 25 states of the federation.

Okowa said the decision of the Federal Government to go ahead with the plan to revive grazing sites across the country is a deliberate disregard for the governors and people of the Southern region.

The governor also berated the President for going ahead with the plan to revive the grazing reserves despite stiff opposition by the people of Southern Nigeria.

Recall that President Buhari had approved the recommendations of a committee to review “with dispatch,” 368 grazing sites, across 25 states in the country, “to determine the levels of encroachment.”

Speaking through the state Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, Governor Okowa reminded the President that governors had the authority over lands in their states.

The governor added that the state House of Assembly had already passed into law the anti-open grazing bill into law.

He added that the law had given governors the control of land in their states and it is the governor who “gives the Certificate of Occupancy to every individual and allows them to have full ownership of the land.”

He said, “We are in a country of law and the law has given governors the control of land in their states. The governor is the one who gives the Certificate of Occupancy to every individual and allows them to have full ownership of the land.

“We are convinced that very soon, the Federal Government will begin to have a rethink, knowing well that it is not legal for Mr President to be the one to map out land in the states.”