The Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, says the National
\nAssembly will not support the creation of grazing reserves anywhere in the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
Addressing newsmen on Sunday after a meeting of the South East governors
\nand stakeholders in Enugu, Ekweremadu said that there was no bill on the
\ncreation of grazing reserves before the National Assembly.<\/p>\n
He, therefore, said that the purported bill for the creation of grazing
\nreserves was a \u201choax\u201d, adding that the press should strive to stop such
\nrumours.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no such proposal or bill on the creation of grazing reserves
\neither in the Senate or House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody is considering it; not even at the executive level. I do not think
\nthey are considering it but we will not support it even if it has been
\nconsidered,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ekweremadu said that the meeting was convened in reaction to the attack on
\nthe people of Uzo Uwani by suspected herdsmen.<\/p>\n
He said that the meeting reviewed all that happened since then and thanked
\nall stakeholders who had shown sympathy to victims of the attack.<\/p>\n
On the absence of Imo and Anambra governors, Ekweremadu said: \u201cThe South
\nEast governors proposed to meet today to review these matters but
\nregrettably, the message did not get to Imo and Anambra governors.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you can see mainly the PDP governors are here. So, they had to review
\nthe matter and more importantly, ensure that every governor will be in
\nattendance in the next meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe meeting is rescheduled within the week where all the governors are
\nexpected to be in attendance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ekweremadu said that the meeting looked at a more regional approach to
\ncurbing the menace of the herdsmen so as to ensure that it did not happen
\nagain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are looking at a concrete and more coordinated approach on how to
\nprotect our people from this carnage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Also speaking, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi said that there was no
\ndisunity among governors in the South East zone.<\/p>\n
Umahi said that the governors would take a cursory look at the federal
\nbudget, when signed into law, so as to ensure that the zone got what was
\ndue to it.<\/p>\n
He said that the governors would ensure the rehabilitation of federal
\nroads in the zone if such arrangements were captured in the budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am sure the Federal Government\u2019s budget is not yet signed. So when it
\nis signed, it will be the duty of all zones to start agitating for
\nattention,\u201d Umahi said.<\/p>\n
NAN reports that Governor Umahi, Gov Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State and
\nGov. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia attended the meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n