NASS Can’t Legislate On Grazing – SANs
Some Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) who reacted to the move by Miyetti Allah to approach the National Assembly to stop state governments from making anti-grazing laws said the move is unlikely to scale through, insisting that National Assembly cannot legislate on grazing. According to them, grazing is not on the exclusive or the concurrent list.
Mr Ahmed Raji (SAN), who spoke to LEADERSHIP on the resolution of the southern governors banning open grazing, said the ban cannot be challenged in court.
He said, ‘’Grazing is neither on exclusive nor concurrent list, so I don’t know on what basis they are going to approach the National Assembly.
‘’Also, the resolution of the state government is not the law, it is the law of each state that is the law of the matter. Anybody who wants to challenge the law will have to pick on the state one after the other.
‘’They cannot challenge the resolution of the southern governor in court because it is not a justiciable matter. What they can challenge is the law enacted by the various states.’’
An Abuja-based constitutional lawyer, Barrister Paul Omoluabi, said the move is a fruitless venture.
According to him, the National Assembly cannot enact laws for the state. He agreed with the submission of Raji that grazing is neither on the exclusive nor concurrent list.
Omoluabi argued that the land belongs to the state and any attempt by the National Assembly to dabble into grazing law will result in conflict of laws.
He said a state has the power to make laws that will be in the best interest of its citizens.
‘’The state has the power to make laws that will protect its citizens if it feels their lives are endangered. The National Assembly cannot go ahead and make laws as regards grazing because it is not in the exclusive or concurrent lists.’’
Culled from Leadership
