SENATOR IKE EKWEREMADU REVEALS, NATIONAL ASSEMBLY WILL NOT SUPPORT CREATION OF GRAZING RESERVE ANYWHERE IN NIGERIA

The Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, says
the National Assembly will not support the creation of
grazing reserves anywhere in the country. Addressing
newsmen on Sunday after a meeting of the South East
governors and stakeholders in Enugu, Ekweremadu said that
there was no bill on the creation of grazing reserves before
the National Assembly.
He, therefore, said that the purported bill for the creation
of grazing reserves was a "hoax'', adding that the press
should strive to stop such rumours. "There is no such
proposal or bill on the creation of grazing reserves either in
the Senate or House of Representatives. "Nobody is
considering it; not even at the executive level. I do not
think they are considering it but we will not support it even
if it has been considered," he said. Ekweremadu said that
the meeting was convened in reaction to the attack on the
people of Uzo Uwani by suspected herdsmen.
He said that the meeting reviewed all that happened since
then and thanked all stakeholders who had shown
sympathy to victims of the attack. On the absence of Imo
and Anambra governors, Ekweremadu said: "The South East
governors proposed to meet today to review these matters
but regrettably, the message did not get to Imo and
Anambra governors. "So you can see mainly the PDP
governors are here. So, they had to review the matter and
more importantly, ensure that every governor will be in
attendance in the next meeting.
"The meeting is rescheduled within the week where all the
governors are expected to be in attendance," he said.
Ekweremadu said that the meeting looked at a more
regional approach to curbing the menace of the herdsmen
so as to ensure that it did not happen again. "We are
looking at a concrete and more coordinated approach on
how to protect our people from this carnage," he said. Also
speaking, Gov. Dave Umahi of Ebonyi said that there was
no disunity among governors in the South East zone.
Umahi said that the governors would take a cursory look at
the federal budget, when signed into law, so as to ensure
that the zone got what was due to it. He said that the
governors would ensure the rehabilitation of federal roads
in the zone if such arrangements were captured in the
budget. ""I am sure the Federal Government's budget is not
yet signed. So when it is signed, it will be the duty of all
zones to start agitating for attention," Umahi said. Gov.
Umahi, Gov Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State and Gov.
Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia attended the meeting.