Okowa signs anti-open grazing bill into law

Rivers Assembly passes state Judicial Institute Bill

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, yesterday, signed the Delta State Livestock, Breeding, Rearing and Marketing Regulation Bill 2021 into Law, which he said, will regulate livestock breeding and bans open grazing in the state.

While signing the two bills passed by the state House of Assembly and presented by the Speaker, Chief Sheriff Oborevwori, Deputy Speaker, Christopher Ochor and other principal officers at Government House, Asaba, Okowa urged the Federal Government to assist interested farmers to establish ranches across the country.

The bills passed on September 9, 2021, after public hearings on them, are Delta State Urban and Regional Planning Bill 2020 and the Delta State Livestock, Breeding, Rearing and Marketing Regulation Bill 2021.

Okowa said the two laws were important to the state, adding that the Delta State Livestock Breeding, Rearing and Marketing Regulations Law had taken a life of its own in the entire country.

He recalled that the southern governors met and took certain decisions, which they believed, were in the best interest of the nation.

Earlier, Oborevwori said the Delta State Urban and Regional Planning Bill 2020 was aimed at the development of the state through proper mechanisms for Urban and Regional Planning to ensure compliance with the laws of the state.

He added that the passing of the Delta State Livestock Breeding, Rearing and Marketing Regulation Bill 2021 was in fulfilment of one of the resolutions reached at the southern governors meeting in Asaba.
MEANWHILE, the Rivers State House of Assembly, yesterday, passed a bill seeking to establish the Rivers State Judicial Institute into law.

The Bill, which seeks to establish a state judicial institute for the training and retraining of judicial officers, especially magistrates, chairmen and members of the state Customary Court was passed after a painstaking debate in the House.

The Assembly also expressed displeasure over the exclusion of Rivers State from benefiting from the fresh loan request for projects to be executed by the Federal Government across the country.

It urged the National Assembly not to approve President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for the loan if Rivers was not included among benefitting states.

Citing chapter two (Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy) and section 14 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which provides that Nigeria shall be a state based on the principles of democracy and social justice, Speaker of the House, Hon. Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani, described the exclusion as divisive.