Osinbajo disowns Ruga settlement initiative

The office of the vice president on Friday said Prof Yemi Osinbajo is not involved in the current attempt to set up Ruga settlement in some parts of the country.

The denial is in response to the claim by Baba Ngelxarma, the general secretary of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), who claimed in an interview with Channels Television, that the vice-president’s office is overseeing the scheme.

But reacting to the claim, Laolu Akande, the special assistant to the vice president on media and publicity, in a statement said Ruga settlement is not being surpervised by the office of his boss.

Akande further explained that the initiative is different from the livestock transformation plan approved under the auspices of the national economic council (NEC) which Osinbajo chairs in January based on the recommendations of one of its committees featuring mostly governors of the frontline states in the farmer-herder crises.

The statement read, “The National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) 2019-2028 is a programme to be implemented in seven pilot states of Adamawa, Benue, Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa, Taraba and Zamfara (as decided by NEC in January), being states on the frontlines of the Farmer-Herder crises.”

“Afterwards, six other states have indicated readiness to also implement the plan. They are Katsina, Kano, Kogi, Kwara, Ondo, and Edo states

“The plan has six pillars through which it aims to transform the livestock production system in Nigeria along market oriented value chain while ensuring an atmosphere of peace and justice.

“The six key pillars include: economic investment, conflict resolution justice and peace humanitarian relief and early recovery human capital development and cross-cutting issues such as gender, youth, research and information and strategic communication.”

According to the statement, the federal government will not impose any initiative on states.

The Ruga settlement, according to the fedral government, is an initiative meant to address the incessant clashes between cattle rearers and farmers.

So far, Benue and all the states in the southern part of the country has rejected the initiative being pushed by some groups within the Buhari administration.