FG Replaces Controversial RUGA With New Scheme, Begins Camps In Six States

Okechukwu Nnodim and Jesusegun Alagbe

Two years after the suspension of the controversial Rural Grazing Area scheme in July 2019, the Federal Government has introduced a replacement scheme called the Livestock Intervention Programme to address the lingering farmer-herder crisis across the country.

This comes amid the Federal Government’s intensified efforts to revive colonial-era grazing routes in many states across the country as per the directive by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd).

According to documents from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development sighted by one of our correspondents, the LIP scheme will see the Federal Government establishing eight large herders’ settlements in each of the six pilot states, namely Adamawa, Kwara, Niger, Bauchi, Kaduna and Gombe.

The scheme is expected to be extended to other states, following a successful outing in the pilot states.

The documents as well as interviews with some officials of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development showed that the LIP is already being implemented in the six pilot states.

The officials confirmed that the six states accepted the establishment of the large herders’ settlements and had already provided land for the purpose.

Unlike the controversial RUGA settlements, which started with 12 pilot states, the ministry officials said the government chose to start the LIP settlements with six pilot states, pending the extension to other states.

They said eight large LIP settlements would be built for herders in each of the states.

Asked if the Federal Government would reactivate the suspended RUGA programme since the clashes between herders and farmers had yet to abate, the acting Director, Animal Husbandry Department, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Winnie Lai-Solarin, replied, “What we have now is the Livestock Intervention Project. And this intervention will take place in the settlements. It might also interest you to know that right now, the intervention has been reduced to six states.”

According to the director, the six pilot states for the LIP are in the North because the region has large settlements and land to grow pasture.

“The states are Adamawa, Kwara, Niger, Bauchi, Kaduna and Gombe,” she noted.

Lai-Solarin confirmed that the Federal Government was establishing the livestock settlement in eight locations in each of the six states.

On why the government reduced the intervention to six pilot states, unlike the RUGA settlements that started with 12 states, the FMARD official explained that the outcry against plans to establish RUGA settlements led to the cutdown.

She, however, noted that some states were still showing interest, despite the initial widespread outcry in many parts of Nigeria.

Lai-Solarin said, “When we started, the states were 12 in number. They included Taraba, Adamawa, Plateau, Niger, Nasarawa, Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi, and Kogi. They were 12 originally.

“And all the states are in the North. The speculation and media reports made people start saying the government wanted to take people’s lands in the South-West, South-East and others.”

She added, “There was never a time that we included states in the South. Rather, speculation and miscommunication gave rise to the concerns by the people that the government was coming to take their land.

“The wrong information went out. Once they heard RUGA, they kicked against it. However, the concept of RUGA was to meet pastoralists where they are in their settlements and provide infrastructure for them there.

“But when that information went out, and because you have settlements in the South and other regions too, it was easy for people to turn it around and say, ‘They (herders) are coming to our states to take our land.’

“But this was when there was no such plan ab initio. Never was such a plan made by the Federal Government.”

Lai-Solarin added that the ministry had been carrying out diverse ot