Former Director-General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr. Paul Angya, has said that 50 per cent of Benue state’s land is occupied by armed herdsmen.

Angya said this on Monday, May 31, while speaking with newsmen, in Makurdi.

He pointed out that attacks and occupation of farm lands by herdsmen were already affecting the state’s status as the Food Basket of the Nation and also the country’s food security.

He said: “At the moment, Benue is besieged from all sizes by armed herdsmen, vagabonds and bandits. Our rural populace can no longer go to their farms; they are maimed, killed, women raped and crops ransacked and thrown out as feeds to cattle.”

He lauded Governor Samuel Ortom for enacting the Prohibition on Open Grazing and Ranches Establishment Law.

He said: “Governor Samuel Ortom needs to be commended for his efforts at securing the lives and property of Benue people. I applaud him for enacting the Anti-Open Grazing Law because without it, the level of insecurity in the state would have been worse.”