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 RUGA Settlement, as an alternative solution to farmers-herders
conflicts in Nigeria.
National President of the
Association, Khalil Mohammed Bello, in a statement made available to DAILY POST
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.”
He added that the most
painful of it all, was the wrong dimension that the debates have taken, which
was very dangerous to the unity and prosperity of Nigeria.
Bello 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, through
its president, 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.
Equally, KACRAN 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.
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