The Federal Government on Tuesday said in the next five years, the establishment of Ruga settlements in the country would stop open grazing by herdsme
The Federal Government on Tuesday said in the next five years, the establishment of Ruga settlements in the country would stop open grazing by herdsmen and end herdsmen-farmers’ clashes across the country. It explained that the establishment of Ruga settlements, which had been approved by President Muhammadu Buhari and had started in 12 states, would allow herdsmen to stay in specific areas, where they could graze their animals.
But all the five South-East state governors, Samuel Ortom (Benue); Darius Ishaku (Taraba) and the Ondo State Government have rejected the Ruga settlements, saying they would not give out their land for herdsmen’s settlements in their states.
Recall that the Federal Government had last year planned to establish cattle colonies for herdsmen, but many states kicked against them. But last month, the immediate past Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, announced that Buhari had approved the Ruga settlement initiative. According to Ogbeh, the settlements will be where herders will live, grow their cattle and produce milk. The milk will be bought by a milking parlour thus preventing their wives from moving around with milk. This is especially to avert any conflict between the herders and the farmers.
Also, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammed Umar, while speaking on the sidelines of the West Africa Antimicrobial Resistance Workshop in Abuja on Tuesday, insisted that the Ruga settlements would attract investors to Nigeria.
Benue State governor, Ortom said Benue State had no land for the Federal Government proposed Ruga settlements for Fulani herdsmen. The governor, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, explained that Ruga settlement policy was imposed on states during the National Council on Agriculture summit held in Owerri, Imo State, in April this year by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture. The governor further said the Benue State delegation reminded the summit that the state had a law on ranching which had phased out open grazing.
“We find the approach of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture not only as a gross violation of the Ranching law but also as an insult to the sensibilities of the entire people of Benue State. The Government of Benue State is willing to support cattle owners to establish ranches as stipulated by the law prohibiting open grazing. We however wish to reiterate that Benue State has no land for grazing reserves, grazing routes, cattle colonies or Ruga settlements. The state only has land for the establishment of ranches.”
Also, the Imo State Government said that it would not be part of the proposed Ruga settlements for Fulani herdsmen in all the states of the federation, adding that no governor in South-East would accept such a proposal. He said the south-eastern states would not rush to accept the proposal when none of the northern states had implemented it.
Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, also said that the state was in full support of the South-East Governors’ Forum position on cattle colony adding that the governors had made their position known that South-East had “no land for cattle colony, Ruga settlement, or in whatever nomenclature it is called.”
Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State, who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Dan Abu, said the state would not accept anything except ranching. Abu, who said ranching remained the best option in the resolution of the crisis, called on the Federal Government to key into the ranching policy as the best option in the resolution of the herders-farmers’ crisis.
Also, the Ondo State Government declared that it did not plan to have any other settlement for Fulani herdsmen because it had already established ranches in some parts of the state.
“Rather than doing cattle rustling, the ranches were established for people to bring their cattle there. So, our position is that we don’t believe in creating anything of such, we already have our own ranches established, with the belief that the cattle there would be healthier and better.”
