The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has signed into law the bill prohibiting open grazing of cattle in the state.
This follows the passage of the bill by the Lagos State House of Assembly on September 5 after which it was subsequently transmitted to the governor for assent.
With the signing of the bill on Monday by the Governor, it has now become a law in the entire state and it is now illegal to move cattle about for grazing in the state.
The signing of the bill comes barely a week after the governor had assented to a bill empowering the state to collect Value Added Tax (VAT) within its territory and has joined a list of some other southern states that had earlier signed the same bill.
Some other southern states who had signed the same anti-open grazing bill include Ogun, Ondo, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers, with other states planning to follow suit.
Governor Sanwo-Olu made this known on his Facebook timeline where he posted, “I signed the Law to prohibit open cattle grazing, and the trespass of cattle on land in Lagos state. By this act, the Bill has now become a law.’’
What you should know
Recall that on September 9, 2021, the Lagos State House of Assembly passed the bill entitled, “A bill for a law to Prohibit Open Cattle Grazing In Lagos State, the Trespass of Cattle Land And For Other Connected Purposes”.
Speaker Mudashiru Obasa subsequently directed the Acting Clerk of the House, Mr. Olalekan Onafeko, to transmit a clean copy to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for assent after it was passed unanimously by the lawmakers at the sitting where the bill was read the third time.
Also, the Nigerian Southern Governors’ Forum, in its meeting held recently in Enugu, reviewed the state of progress of implementation of the decisions reached at its previous meeting and commended the rate at which states in the south were enacting the anti-open grazing laws encouraging those yet to enact it to do so expeditiously.
