THE Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) has said that members of the group are not accustomed to ranching or breeding cattle in one place.

The MACBAN South-West Zonal Secretary Maikudi Usman said this in Lagos on Wednesday at a one-day public hearing organised by the Lagos State House of Assembly on a bill to ban open grazing in the state.

Citing climate change and the financial implications of ranching, Usman argued that the best way to breed cattle was through open grazing.

He pleaded with the assembly to allow the group more time to enlighten and train its members on “how they will be breeding cattle in one place and not encroach on farmers’ land.”

“Our breeders are not used to breeding cattle in one place. They move from here to another place. When we say we will keep cattle in one place, the owner of the cattle will not have funds to feed the animals in one place.

“They have already depended on going from one place to another because in the rainy season time, we have where we settle down, and we also have for the dry season.

“We are pleading with the Lagos State government to give us more time to go tell our people and train them how they will be breeding cattle in one place and not encroach on farmers’ land,” he said.

While saying that a cow could be sold for N2 million if open grazing was banned, Usman called on the state government to subsidise the cost of ranching.

He admitted that there were bad eggs among them that were fomenting trouble.

The anti-open grazing bill was introduced and read by  Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday.

The bill, which was prepared by the executive arm of the government of the state, seeks to jail armed herdsmen for 21-years.

As the debate on open grazing rages across the country, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore has called on the National Assembly to stop the open-grazing laws by the southern governors because it targets Fulani pastoralists.

It has also vowed that its members would not obey the laws irrespective of where they are enacted.