COCIN president urges Plateau Assembly to ban open grazing

Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) has advocated for the ban on open grazing in crisis prone states in the country, saying the Plateau State House of Assembly needs to take urgent actions to institute the policy just like Benue and Taraba states. President of COCIN, Rev Dachollom Datiri made this known while speaking at the General Church Council of COCIN on Tuesday.

He said, “in Plateau State, the legislature is yet to act on this all important law that will bring to an end the wanton killing of farmers and villagers by Fulani herdsmen”. “Open grazing is becoming a serious menace in the country, a trend that has subjected farmers to torture in the hands of herdsmen: government must do all within its power to forestall sanity and give farmers some kind of succour.

“Plateau State legislators must borrow a clue from Benue and Taraba States and come up with a law that will prohibit open grazing: this is the voice of the people and the wish of the citizenry and every responsible government should not take it lightly”. The COCIN President also called on the federal government to put an end to the clashes between farmers and herdsmen in the country.

On some other issues affecting the Church in northern Nigeria, Datiri said that churches in the north have not received their certificate of occupancy, calling on the federal government to prevail on the ugly trend. “States in Northern Nigeria have over the years consistently denied churches the constitutional provision of securing certificates of occupancy, we therefore lend our voice in support of Christian Association of Nigeria to call on the National Assembly to prevail on the states in the Northern part of the country to henceforth be issuing certificate of occupancy to the church”, he said.