On May 21, the Federal Government approved what it termed the RUGA settlement scheme, to curb open grazing of animals nationwide.

RUGA entails the settlement of animals by farmers in an organised place with the provision of necessary amenities.

The President of CAN, Pastor Samson Ayokunle, announced the position of the association at a church leaders’ summit in Lagos on Saturday.

“We, the Christian body call on the Federal Government to immediately suspend and abrogate the RUGA settlement programme,’’Ayokunle stated.

According to him, anything that smacks of mutual distrust should be avoided in the interest of national unity.

He said also that the perception by many Christians that CAN had not been showing enough interest in national issues was wrong.

“Let me state it here that our position, although it may differ from that of government is not opposition but a way of helping those in government.

“Our position is a way of helping those in government by calling their attention to the dangers that may come from the proposed action if adequate caution is not considered.

“We, the Christian body also kick against the Control of Waterways Bill now before the National Assembly. The Control of Waterways by the Federal Government Bill before the National Assembly should be rejected.

“Waterways in each locality should be controlled by local authorities. God created the waterways there. At most they should be controlled by State Governments.”

The CAN chief advised the Federal Government to intensify efforts on the establishment of modern ranching facilities, abattoirs and meat processing firms.

Also speaking, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, said that he supported the position of CAN on the RUGA settlement issue.

“CAN must do everything possible to let the world know that CAN is one. Whatever the CAN president says is the final,” he said.

The Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, in a message, said that building of the nation was in the hands of God.

He pleaded with Nigerians to pray to God for supernatural intervention in the affairs of Nigeria, saying: “we need to cry to God to help Nigeria.”

Osinbajo was represented by the Chaplain of Aso Rock Chapel, Pastor Sheyi Malomo.

Church leaders at the summit included Pastor Felix Omobude, President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria; Elder Napo Emuchey, President of the Organisation of African Instituted Churches; Rev. S.T.V. Adegbite, President of the Christian Council of Nigeria and Benebo Fubara-Manuel.

The theme of the summit is: “RUGA: The Church Response in the 21st Century.’’

Source:  NAN

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Enang had explained that the project was not to colonise any part as widely believed and should be supported by the Southern states of the country.

In a statement issued by some of its leaders, Yinka Odumakin, South West; Senstor Bassey Henshaw, South-South; Prof Chigozie Ogbu, South South and Dr. Isua Dogo, Middle Belt, the group said Enang lied in his explanation of what the Ruga policy is about.

According to SMBLF, Enang’s campaign for Ruga was a show of desperation to be retained in his office as President Muhammadu Buhari’s special assistant.

It also warned the Senate President against attempt to bring back the “defeated bill through which the Executive arm sought to take over water banks across the country in pursuit of the Ruga policy and other domination quests.”

The Senate president’s flaunting of APC majority in the Senate, the forum stated, showed “a lack of understanding of the fact that national cohesion overrides the number of any party in parliament.”

The statement reads in full:

The attention of Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum, SMBLF, has been drawn to statements credited to Senator Ita Enang, former Senior Special Assistant to  President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters on the divisive and internal colonialism project called Ruga.

In a desperate effort to get re-appointed, Enang did overtime on dirty job spewing untruths and making wild claims.

He explained the word – RUGA  – is not derived from Hausa or Fulani, but an acronym for Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) initiated in 1956 during the colonial era. This is a pure lie, we challenge him to tell us what Cow Settlement is called in Hausa other than Ruga.

He also assured it was not intended to Islamise, Fulanise or colonise anybody.

We want him to give us the number of Fulani who have indicated that they want to relocate to the South outside Fulanis from Senegal, Niger, Mali etc who will have territories created for them under Ruga policy. This is Fulanisation and colonialism.

He also said that the budgetary provision for Ruga is in volume 1 under the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural development item number ERGP 5208 where the sum of N2.258bn was provided and budgeted for the grazing programme and that the National Assembly members are not against the Ruga programme because they are aware of it and have been approving funds for its implementation.

We want him to hold our hands and show us Ruga in the budget. Even if it was put there wrong-headedly, must we pursue a programme that can break up the country because it was inserted in the budget? Has he never heard the word virement in all his days in the National Assembly?

He ended with a call on Southern states to drop opposition to the policy .

We of the Southern and Middle Belt communities are offering him halls free of charge in as many cities as he wants so he can engage on Ruga sensitisation tours to convince our peoples .

The SMBLF also warns the Senate Presudent, Senator Ahmad Lawan to stop debasing the Senate in his bid to convince the Executive arm of government that he is a rubber stamp.

We have noticed how he has been trying to bring up the defeated bill through which the Executive arm sought to take over water banks across the country in pursuit of the Ruga policy and other domination quests.

His flaunting of the APC majority in Senate shows a lack of understanding of the fact that national cohesion overrides the number of any party in parliament.

He should understudy how the British Parliament has behaved across party lines.

The wisdom of the Land Use Act in vesting lands in Governors through whom the Federal can apply for spaces for projects should never be violated in order not to heat up the polity.

Nigeria is presently in a precarious situation and all those who are holding temporary offices should not do permanent damage to the country.

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The Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, made this assertion on Saturday in Sokoto, just as he said that banning them would also improve their lives.

He spoke with journalists shortly after attending the wedding ceremony of the son of Senator Kabiru Gaya, Ibrahim Khalil.

His words:  “No better way to improve their lives if you don’t prevent their migration from the north to the central and southern parts of Nigeria.

“Fulani migration should be banned otherwise they would continue to suffer and the security challenges in the country would continue to exist.”

The governor also spoke on the implementation of RUGA in the country.

According to him, the idea was for states which could cater for the interest of the Fulani.

He said the idea was to make herdsmanship a socio-economic investment not a socio-cultural issue.

The governor argued that it would be wrong to ask states other than those with Fulani indigenes to set up the settlement.

Said he:  “So, states where indigenes are not Fulani cannot be asked to implement RUGA, as such it is for states that can cater for the Fulanis and wish to improve their herdsmanship.

“That is why we are developing RUGA in Kano State so that Fulani people can be in one place and enjoy all the social services like other people of the state.

“The type of herdsmanship the Fulanis are doing now will be improved so that they can produce more cows, more milk and ensure more economic prosperity to themselves.”

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This is the position of Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka.

Soyinka who spoke during the launch of United Nations’ Solutions 17 SDG programme on Tuesday, said the problem was not being properly handled.

His words:  “Ruga is going to be an explosion if not handled with care. But why do we not take our policies from good models? This is not the way people and countries deal with issues of cattle.

“I travel everywhere. It has to be handled in a way that is logical, comprehensible to the environment. When a cattle walks up to the window of my house in Abeokuta, a house which is located in a residential area, then there’s a problem.

“When cattle go to Ijebu Ode and eat up their plant seedlings and so on and you expect people to be quiet?”

Soyinka who berated President Muhammadu Buhari for the way he had handled the farmers-herdsmen clash in the country, said so many lives had been lost unjustifiably.

He said if the way Buhari had handled the situation before the election was anything to go by, he should have lost the in the contest for his re-election.

Said he:  “President Buhari deserved to have lost the last election for the lackadaisical attitude he took to the issue of cattle rearing in the country.

“People have been killed in hundreds just because of the failure of leadership at a critical time. And the cattle herders have been given a sense of impunity. They kill without any compunction, they drive away the farmers who have been contributing to the food solutions in the country, the cattle eat their crops and then you come up with Ruga.”

He restated that there would be trouble in the country if the Ruga settlement solution was not handled imaginatively and with humanity as a priority.

“Any country where cattle takes priority over human life is definitely at an elementary stage,” he argued.

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Umahi disclosed this in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Emma Uzor, in Abakaliki on Sunday.

Umahi, chairman of the South-East Governors Forum’s reaction followed controversies and insinuations trailing Federal Government’s alleged plan to establish Ruga settlements in some states.

Umahi explained that the South-East zone did propose a deal with the members of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) as panacea to achieving lasting peace between farmers and herdsmen.

He, however, denied any plans by governors of the zones to cede any part of their land for Ruga settlement.

He said: “There is no plan for any Ruga settlement in any part of South-East and South-South zones; but we made a proposed deal with MACBAN that can allow the zone to become very good business with sale of grasses to the herdsmen in exchange for meat.

“There will be no part of the South-East that will be given out for the purpose of establishment of Ruga, the zone is purely agrarian with limited landmass for farming and therefore cannot accommodate Ruga establishment.

“We actually proposed a deal with MACBAN to take their cattle to the Northern parts where grazing reserves were established long time ago and rely completely on the grasses grown in the South for feeding of their cattle.”

Umahi, who was the Chairman of Technical Committee on Farmers and Herdsmen clash carved from the National Economic Council headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said that the committee had recommended the revamping of existing grazing reserve in Nigeria.

He said that revamping of the already existing grazing reserves in various parts of the North as recommended by the committee was to enable farmers have unhindered access to their farmlands while herdsmen rely solely on proceeds from the farmers.

Umahi was the Chairman of National Economic Council sub Technical Committee on farmers and herdsmen clash and he toured the states of Benue, Taraba, Nasarawa, Adamawa, Zamfara and others.

“Part of committee’s recommendations to the federal government was the revamping of grazing reserves in the North where all the cattle rearers in the South will take their cattle to these places and rely on the grasses that are grown in the South.

“The way it works is that the herdsmen will bring down their cows to the South-East and sell to us as meat while they will load the grasses which are grown here in the same vehicles with which they transported their cows to feed their cattle in those grazing reserve.

“With this proposed deal, herdsmen are expected to embrace anti open grazing by returning to the ranches in the North and do their business on the trade by barter basis of selling cows to the South and buying grass to feed their cows in the North.”

Umahi further called for tolerance among youths of various ethnic nationalities to solve the problem of hate speech.

He admonished Igbo youths on peaceful coexistence and urged them not to insult their leaders who were doing everything possible to protect them from any form of internal and external aggression.

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