The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) is reportedly set to construct cattle colonies rebranded “RUGA” in 12 states with six (6) in each state. RUGA is a settlement for Fulani herdsmen, their families and livestock proposed to contain Ranches, Grass or Feed Farms, Abattoirs, Dairy Meat and Skin Leather Processing Plants, as well as Housing, Religious Houses, Schools, Roads, Power, Water Supply and a complete range of infrastructure absent in most local governments. When the idea of cattle colonies was first presented, virtually all the State Governors in the Middle Belt and Southern Nigeria rejected the idea and refused to allocate land. Notwithstanding this, the program having been rebranded as RUGA is going ahead as an Executive Bill implemented without reference to the National Assembly (still on recess despite all the national emergencies), the Federal Executive Council (still yet to be sworn in three months after the election), or the Council of States (who showed their displeasure with events by boycotting both the inauguration and the June 12th Democracy Day Celebration.) On Sunday 30th June in a statement issued through his media aid, Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State said South-East and South-South Governors with massive support from their indigenes rejected the RUGA settlements. At the end of the day, cattle-rearing is a personal business, not government business. Opponents of the plan describe it as simply a plot to grab land for the Fulani all over the country, it’s important the FGN debunks these claims by explaining in detail the implications, ramifications, extent, and time frame for the project. Paradoxically as recently as January 2019 President Buhari said that Fulani Herdsmen massacring Nigerians are aliens, not Nigerians. They are from Mali, Niger and Chad. Several other influential Northerners including Kaduna State Governor El-Rufai, concurred. This then begs the question as to why it’s necessary to resettle illegal aliens on the indigenous lands of Nigerians in the Southern States? The Chairman of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum, Ekiti State Governor Dr Kayode Fayemi said the RUGA initiative is simply a “storm in a tea cup” which has been blown out of proportion. He believes that no state could be forced to surrender land within its jurisdiction.
That of course is a naive falsehood! The Benue State Government made it abundantly clear that RUGA is against their Anti-open Grazing Bill and is unacceptable. None the less the FGN is proceeding without making any attempt to abrogate the Land Use Act which vests all lands with State Governments. The initiative would have been commendable if there were plans to set up agricultural settlements nationwide and encourage private investment in agriculture as a business and means to employ labor. Instead the focus is on cows. It’s only logical and fair that since the FGN is using our common patrimony to finance the program, then indigenous communities should benefit. If truly the purpose is to end farmer’s/herders clashes then a simple solution is for each indigenous community to breed their own cattle, then there will no longer be conflicts, unless of course there is an ulterior motive for RUGA. If it’s so important to the FGN that all ethnic groups other than the Fulani must be excluded from the cattle business, then they should use the large expanse of the legendary Sambisa Forest which is 686 square kilometers or 6.8 million hectares.
This approximates to 68 million plots of 100ft x 100ft which experts say can host 340 million cows (18 times the current number of cows in Nigeria). Until RUGA every Nigerian had a right to move or co-habit in any part of the country, but the FG intends to create areas which are exclusive reserves for a particular ethnic group based on land forcibly taken from indigenes by fiat. Government would be well advised to shelve the idea until all stakeholders have had their say. The irony is that in 1969 Hon Justice Adewale Thompson’s High Court Judgment (Suit No AB/26/66) banned open grazing. His judgment concluded by saying “….I banned open grazing for it is inimical to peace and tranquility and the cattle owners must fence or ranch their animals for peace to reign.” It’s not known that anybody appealed this judgment, so as it stands open grazing is in violation of the law! It simply defies logic for the FG to build RUGA’s in the South for cattle located in the North and build refineries in the North for oil located in the South! There is a fallacy that open grazing has been done since “time immemorial”. This isn’t true. Cattle-Ranching isn’t a new phenomenon in Nigeria. As long ago as 1959 there were ranches in Nigeria. During the disastrously inept military rule the ranches collapsed. The whole RUGA affair has been so poorly handled that it has the potential to cut the string that holds Nigeria together. The old adage “the stone you see coming should not blind you” is very apt in this matter. The killings have already begun to spread, and if not handled with utmost care, the consequences of this poorly thought out policy may be unimaginable. It isn’t just a storm in a tea cup!
