With the suspension of the RUGA Settlement Scheme for herdsmen in the country by the Federal Government, a Fulani group, Kulen Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria (KACRAN) has urged the federal government to as a matter of urgency review and hurriedly implement the highly controversial programme, as an alternative solution to farmers-herders conflicts in Nigeria.
National President of the Association, Khalil Mohammed Bello, in a statement made available to journalists on Monday, said, “It was very unfortunate, that instead of the intended program to serve the general purpose upon which it was metamorphosed, that is solving the crisis or conflicts between Herders and Farmers, to guarantee food security in the country, It was rather used as a matter or topic of critical debates among the Nigerians elites, which brought unnecessary tribulations and serious disunity in the country.”
Bello added that the most painful of it all, was the wrong dimension that the debates have taken, which he said was very dangerous to the unity and prosperity of Nigeria.
He noted that this has created a situation in which whereas Northerners strongly support the RUGA programme, their Southern counterpart, vehemently opposed and totally rejected the implementation of the programme in their respective states.
“The most worrisome in the Nigerians division on RUGA program was that most of the people who supported or opposed it were doing so, not for the fact that, they understand what the concept entails, but on sectional grown,” he said.
The association advised that the programme should be limited to northern states only and attention must be paid to states that indicated interest and have enough land.
KACRAN also suggested that the programme should be renamed, reviewed as well as reclaiming and protecting all the existing gazetted grazing reserves and cattle ranches in the entire Northern part of the country by the federal government as a way of preventing possible rejection of the initiative in states which do not want to implement it.
