Outrage over FG’s Ruga settlements for Fulani herdsmen across the country

South East governors, Ortom, Ishaku, others reject move

Outrage has continued to greet the push by the President Muhammadu Buhari led Federal Government to establish what it called ‘Ruga’ settlements for Fulani herders across the 36 states of the country, with many accusing the administration of promoting an ethnic agenda.

Many Nigerians took to social media on Wednesday to express their opposition to the move, even as they wondered why the Buhari government is promoting the interest of the herdsmen as if cattle rearing was no longer a private business.

“Why the continuous push to occupy their land? You said “cattle colonies” they refused. You said ” Ranching” they refused. You said you will form “Fulani vigilantees” to protect them they said no. You turned around called it ” Ruga” they are saying no. Why not look northward?” queried twitter user, Nath4real @nathaniel_ijeh

Another user, Chinenye Olugazie @olugazie said: “The north has a larger land mass, they should go their and rear their cattles. Do they intend to allow all that land go to waste? They better put it to good use.

“I’m surprised that The president is aware that the southern Nigeria exists and can add value to the nation,” wrote another user with the handle @Nija_4life. “Since he doesn’t trust or believe in anybody from the south to hold any sensitive positions. Now he wants to build ranches by force in the same south.”

In his own comment, Financengr @Financengr2 said “That shit should move up North. Accommodating herdsmen should be included in one hundred ways to die.”

Bols @Bols78549018 wrote, “This is not ideal. Bauchi has land, Katsina, Niger, Jigawa, Zamfara…all have wide and massive expanse of land. The cultures similarities are also there. Why not take advantage of this. Except there are ulterior motives.

“The agenda was to kill and kipnap them to surrender their lands, but Nigerians are not foolish that is why the presidency is refusing to take actions against Fulani killings, all for land bonanza,” said another user, Justice @ask4solo.

Meanwhile, South East governors and those of Benue and Taraba states have respectively and unanimously rejected the establishment of the settlements,

Special Adviser on Media to the state Governor, Steve Osuji said Imo govt won’t accept Ruga settlement for herdsmen’ insisting that the government would not be part of the proposed Ruga settlements for Fulani herdsmen in all the states of the federation.

Osuji who spoke to Punch on Tuesday, said 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.

“Certainly not. It is not about Imo State; no state in the South-East would accept it. We won’t rush to accept it when no state in the North has implemented it.”

Also reacting, Special Adviser to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, Mr Louis Amoke, said the state was in full support of the South-East Governors’ Forum position on cattle colony.

Amoke told Punch 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.”

He added, “So the position of Enugu State Government is not different from the position of South-East Governors’ Forum.”

In a similar reaction, 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.

“We have a policy on this issue already which led to the enactment of the open grazing and ranches establishment law. This policy remains the best practice the world over in animal rearing,” he said.

“We implore the Federal Government to key into the ranching policy for the overall interest of herders and farmers. For now, we will not accept anything other than ranching,” he said.

Similarly, 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.

Speaking to Punch, the state Commissioner for Information, Mr Yemi Olowolabi, said the ranches were established in Auga Akoko and Akunnu Akoko in the Akoko North-East Local Government Area of the state.

“I am not aware of anything of such (Ruga settlement). However, we have made our position known about that. We have established cattle ranches at Auga Akoko and Akunnu Akoko for people to take their cattle to.

“So, 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.”

Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue state, also rejected the plan of the federal government to set up farm settlements for herdsmen.

Speaking through Terver Akase, his chief press secretary, Ortom described the initiative as an insult to the people of Benue.

He said the federal government is planning to establish settlements in Otukpo, Tarka and Ukum local government areas in the state despite the opposition of his administration.

He said it is a “gross violation” to the open grazing prohibition and ranches establishment law 2017 being implemented in the state.

Ortom said he had made it known at different fora that Benue will not support a policy which contravenes its law.

“A few weeks ago, the director, federal ministry of agriculture with his team in Benue state informed officials of the state ministry of agriculture that he had received directives from the ministry’s headquarters Abuja to establish Ruga which means ‘Fulani settlement’ in parts of the state,” he said in a statement.

“The permanent secretary, Benue state ministry of agriculture drew the attention of the director and his team to the open grazing prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law 2017 being implemented in the state. When they were also reminded about the Land Use Act which confers on the governor the powers to administer lands in all parts of the state, officials of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture left with a promise to relay the message to their headquarters. They surprisingly returned a few days later with contractors to commence work on the Ruga settlements.

“During the National Council on Agriculture summit which took place in Owerri, Imo State in April this year, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture attempted to impose Ruga settlement patterns on the states but the Benue state delegation seized the opportunity to remind the summit that Benue State has a law on ranching which has phased out open grazing. No one at the summit put forth an alternative method of animal husbandry to counter the state’s presentation.

“It could also be recalled that the National Economic Council, NEC, had also unanimously adopted ranching as the best method of livestock breeding for the country. It is therefore shocking to see the Federal Government turning round to establish Fulani herdsmen settlements in some states including Benue, contrary to the position of NEC.

“We wish to remind those pushing for Ruga settlements that the Constitution of the country gives states the right to make laws for the governance of their people. Any attempt to subvert such right is a direct attack on the Constitution. Those behind such a move are enemies of peace and progress.

“The Government of Benue State is willing to support cattle owners to establish ranches as stipulated by the law prohibiting open grazing.”

The Buhari government had months ago, approved the establishment of the said Ruga settlements in the country for herdsmen across the 36 states of the country, meaning that states were expected to give out lands which will serve as settlement for herdsmen.

According to the immediate past Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh who made the disclosure, this would stop open grazing by herdsmen and end herdsmen-farmers’ clashes across the country.

Ogbe had 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.

This is coming after the Federal Government had last year planned to establish cattle colonies for herdsmen, but many states kicked against them.

“Just 10 days ago, President Muhammadu Buhari approved a programme called the Ruga settlement. We are going to build settlements 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,” Ogbeh reportedly stated on May 21, 2019.

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, argued that the Ruga settlements would attract investors to Nigeria.

The workshop was organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. West African countries including Nigeria, agreed to collaborate to address the destructive effects of antimicrobial resistance on human and animal health.

Explaining how the Ruga settlements would work, he said many states had indicated interest in the programme.

“The Ruga settlement is one of the very important things being done by the ministry and it is one of the best things that can happen not only to Nigeria but to most of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It is a concept that we developed to deal with internal security,” he said.

“We felt that to do away with herders-farmers’ conflict, we need to settle our nomads and those who breed animals. We want to put them in a place that has been developed as a settlement, where we provide water for their animals, pasture, schools for their children, security, agro-rangers, etc.”

“We also felt that we need to develop cattle markets whereby you don’t need to be transporting animals through very long distances. We will also bring in investors that will set up modern centres where cattle breeders can slaughter their animals. When we do that, a lot of other things will come up.

“We are going to change their (herdsmen) lifestyle, take them away from our streets and from wandering in the bush and develop districts, hamlets and towns and definitely in the next five to 10 years you will never see a nomad moving about, wandering or kidnapping. And this will end all these security challenges.”

Asked when the programme would take off, Umar replied, “We have already taken off. First of all, we are starting with about 12 states and we have identified the required locations. In each and every state we are going to have at least nothing less than six locations which we will start with and will settle these people along with other people that are interested in rearing animals.

“The Ruga settlement will attract a lot of investments to Nigeria and it is our belief that in the next five years, each Ruga settlement will provide nothing less than 2,000 employment opportunities. We are collaborating with the cattle breeders’ associations in Nigeria.”

The permanent secretary stated that many state governments had indicated interest and were visiting the ministry to get details about the initiative.

“Already state and local governments are buying into the initiative. Many states have indicated interest. They have been coming to the ministry and will like to join to ensure that we set up Ruga settlements in their states so that their nomads will have a place. Also, they will have cattle markets and modern abattoirs in their states,” he disclosed.