A Stand Against Ruga -By Sesugh Akume

On this contentious Ruga issue, let me speak for myself:

In my ancestral home, Ugba, are internally displaced persons (IDPs) sleeping in tents at a decrepit habitation unfit for wild beasts, located in primary school (nor more functional as a result of this) they call an IDP camp; victims of attacks by the Fulani violent herders. Most have been there from January last year after those dastardly New Year’s Day attacks in parts of Benue many may recall, where fellow humans weren’t only killed but hard their body mutilated, carved out; disemboweled, pregnant women’s babies smashed to death. It’s a horror no one can recount and stay normal. They can’t go home because A, it’s not safe up to now; B, there’s no home to go to. Where will they start? They’ve been destroyed: homesteads, farmlands, places of worship, everything. Some have been taken over by grazing cattle, others lying desolate overgrown with weed, and shrubs now trees.

I am of the opinion that IDPs of such crises as these need to be rehabilitated, resettled, and reintegrated back into society for a normal life first, after which there can be talk about cattle settlements in their communities. I know that human life and existence is by far more important than cattle and cattle settlements. The latter can’t be a topmost priority.

I know that the herders, before they turned violent, had been living with and amongst us for decades, without any incidences. They’re people everybody knows, by name. It’s all one large community. When asked where the violence came from, they say even they don’t know. That the violent ones come from elsewhere and overpower, including them to commit the violence. More on this shortly. But may I state here, in passing that, I don’t accept that allotting cattle settlements and providing the ranchers infrastructure in itself ends the crises, restores peace, and rebuilds confidence. I think at this time it makes things worse.

I also know as of fact, that there’s ample land especially in the farther northern part of Nigeria. I see vast tracks of land for kilometres with no human activity at all. I find it difficult to understand why the pilot projects must to start in my home. Why cattle settlements must be in my home. Clearly, the issue is no longer about space for ranching/grazing.

I am also of the opinion that cattle rearing, as any other business, is private. If people want land for animal husbandry why is the federal government mapping and allotting land, and not they negotiating and getting it to run their businesses? Will this be done for me if I go into piggery too, for instance? Or I have to resort to violence then piggery can also be given special, exclusive attention? Would land be carved for me with other infrastructure provided by the federal government in other parts of Nigeria? Two key points here, but note that violence gets the federal government’s attention.

The role of allotting land is exclusively by the state governors and local government chairmen according to the Constitution. I don’t get where and how the federal government derived its powers to do so, except such has been done surreptitiously by those with the authority to, but they publicly deny. Else it’s the federal government forcefully stealing people’s land for their Ruga.

This federal government Ruga approach seems to accommodate all pastoralists regardless of their nationality. With our porous (almost nonexistent) borders there is the implication of harbouring citizens of other countries without proper documentation. Buhari has said the terrorists who come to kill us in our homes are foreigners. They do it and get away. The herders we know say they come from elsewhere, it’s not them. Would you want a settlement in your community open to all kinds of untraceable, undocumented, unaccountable strangers? On the economic side, can these ones be of any benefit to the government since they will not pay taxes?

Ideally, establishing the Ruga settlements as a far-reaching policy of the government should be backed by a law enacted by the National Assembly, rather than this putting the cart before the horse. Is there such anywhere, or even in the works? You cannot implement such a policy without it resting on a legal frame. It’s building something on nothing.

The hurry in mapping land, awarding (opaque) contracts, and speeding up implementation is suspicious. So are the discordant tunes within the very same government, in the Villa itself, to be precise. The Vice President’s office was spearheading this policy under an elegantly-named ‘National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP).’ They were mapping land everywhere to form these colonies in the name of implementing the ‘Justice and Conflict Resolution Pillars’ of the so-called NLTP. Now that the very same government has come out boldly about Ruga, Osinbajo is denying knowledge of Ruga, says he’s doing NLTP to Ruga. What is NLTP and what is Ruga?

So, in the newspapers today one caption reads: ‘Vice President disowns Ruga scheme’; another goes: ‘Why we decided to implement Ruga initiative – Presidency.’ Little wonder a former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF) asked, ‘Who is the presidency?’

Recall the presidency statement earlier that it is better for us to give up our land than to lose our lives. What precisely does this statement mean? It’s means ‘your land or your life!’ This is robbery, plain and simple.

I’m suspicious, uneasy, uncomfortable, and rather apprehensive. It’s why I’m putting up a resistance.