By Akintunde Jacobs, Akure
Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has reiterated his administration’s resolve to protect the lives of the people of the state at any cost saying government would ensure that farmers are saved from losing their farm crops as a result of the outdated open grazing practice.
Governor Akeredolu, who gave the disclosure in his office on Tuesday while receiving the Pastorate of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry led by the State Overseer, Pastor Jacob Asubiojo, said although the recent anti-open grazing law put in place in the state was not pleasing to some people, but vowed to stand by it.
According to him, the efforts made on Amotekun and the outlawing of open grazing were not targeted at anyone, stressed that the need to protect the people and ensure mutual understanding informed the development.
He said members of the Miyetti-Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria in the state are ready to cooperate with his administration on the open grazing ban.
The Governor also announced that the state government is partnering with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to train herders on feedlot.
He said: “I want to urge you to intensify your prayers for us. We need it. You have referred to our efforts in trying to secure this our homeland. We have made efforts, we established Amotekun and banned open grazings.
“It is not what is pleasing to everybody. Some people are not pleased with us. We are ready to stand by it and face whatever it will cost us. Pray for us. Amotekun and the anti-open grazing law are not pleasing to some people and they are gathering together, planning evil. Pray for us. Their evil will not work.
“What we are saying is that your herds can not keep destroying our crops. The FAO has come and we have discussed it. The Miyetti-Allah here in Ondo appears to want to cooperate with us because they know that when their cows destroy crops, we seize their cows and they pay the farmers before they are released.
“The FAO will train them on how to do feedlot. They will be trained to make feed and take it to the cows. We are not discriminating against anybody. We just want to make it clear that you can’t make your own ends meet and destroy other people’s source of livelihood. We know your prayers are very important to us. We need it.”
Earlier, the State Overseer of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor Asubiojo, commended the Governor over his efforts to keep the state as one of the leading states in the country.
“I want to specially commend the effort of the Governor in the area of security. As far as I’m concerned, in this our Southwest, I can say Ondo State is number one. You are doing a lot. I also want to commend the Governor on the development stride in the state. This is highly commendable,” he said.