By Aluta News
Feb. 22, 2024
Gov. Umaru Bago of Niger has inaugurated a 10- member committee to recover all the existing grazing reserves for agricultural purposes in the state.
Bago, while inaugurating the committee in Minna on Thursday, said the state government had identified 23 grazing reserves across the 25 local government areas to be recovered.
The governor said that the state government would take control of the reserves, prepare and cultivate them in accordance to land use acts.
“In our agriculture revolution, we have interacted with residents, traditional institutions and locals with a view to prepare lands for cultivation and animal husbandry,” the governor said.
He said that the reserves would help government actualise the Federal Government’s Pulaku initiative, adding that most of the reserves have become hideout to hoodlums.
According to him, the terms and references of the committee include identifying all the state and federal government grazing reserves in the state.
He added that the committee would also trace relevant history associated with each grazing reserve, establishment, records of acquisition and payment of compensation if any.
He said the committee was mandated to determine the size of each grazing reserve, provide relevant information that would assist government in the new drive to improve ranching and pastoralism in the state.
The governor said the committee have three weeks to submit its reports.
Responding, Alhaji Ahmed Guna, Chairman of the committee, assured the governor of its readiness to discharge their work diligently and ensure prompt submission of reports before the deadline.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the committee are made up of Commissioners for Lands, Agriculture, Nomadic Affairs and Environment, as well as Permanent Secretaries of Basic Secondary Education and Lands amongst others.
NAN