Senator Ita Enang, Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters to President Muhammadu Buhari has thrown his weight behind the contentious RUGA settlement, advising state governors, especially the ones from the Southern part of the country, to embrace and support the programme by making lands available for its implementation.
Enang, while hosting students of Law School, Abuja, who are of Akwa Ibom State extraction, stated that a whopping N2.258 billion was provided for the implementation of the Ruga programme in the 2019 budget.
The Presidency said weekend that the Federal Government earmarked N2.25 billion for the implementation of Ruga Settlements in the 2019 Budget.
It also said the RUGA Settlements policy was discussed and agreed at the National Economic Council, NEC, with state governors in attendance and wondered why some governors would deny knowledge of the decision.
Recall that the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who is chairman of NEC had, through his spokesman, Laolu Akande, said there was no time the issue of Ruga was discussed at the NEC.
Some governors who are members of NEC have also said that there was no time RUGA was discussed during their meetings and wondered how the Federal Government came about it.
It was, however, gathered that the RUGA policy was a brain child of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture aimed at reducing incessant clashes between farmers and herders.
As a result of the controversy the policy generated, President Muhammadu Buhari directed that the policy be suspended.
Explaining that the word Ruga was not derived from Hausa or Fulani, but an acronym for Rural Grazing Area, RUGA, initiated in 1956 during the colonial era, Enang said it was not intended to islamise, fulanise or colonise anybody as insinuated.
The presidential aide cited the 2019 federal budget, volume 1 under the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development item number ERGP 5208 where the sum of N2.258 billion was provided and budgeted for the grazing programme.
He maintained that National Assembly members were not against the Ruga programme because they were aware of it and had approved funds for its implementation, adding that the objective of the budget for Ruga was to promote cattle breeding and meat production.
He added that the programme was an integrated farm system which had schools, good road, tractors and mechanisatiom, as well as agricultural integration, with a provision for primary healthcare, veterinary, schools.
Enang, however, stated that aside from the budgeted sum for Ruga in the 2019 expenditure, there was another sum provided for emergency Ruga implementation programme approved in May by the National Economic Council, NEC, for states that will make land available.
He said that since 1999, he has been hosting students of Law School from Akwa Ibom State, noting this was specifically to enlighten them on the objective of Ruga programme against the misconceptions making the rounds.
Enang said: “One of the rumours was that President Buhari was going to acquire people’s land to feed cow. Ruga is not a plan to seize land from people, neither is it meant to fulanize or colonize anybody.
”The programme is meant to address the issue of cattle roaming and destruction of farmland which would put an end to the herders/farmers crisis.
”The idea of Ruga graduated in 1978 into the Land Use Act which states that a portion of land has to be reserved for grazing to avoid the destruction of farm produce by cattle.
”Over time, cattle roamed and destroyed farms, hence the introduction of the policy to address the issue.”
He noted that in the north, earth dams were constructed to cater for cattle and that every year, there has been allocation for the continuous funding of grazing areas, adding that it was the NEC that approved the establishment of the emergency Ruga policy but wondered why some governors were denying being part of the approval.
He said that the emergency Ruga programme did not involve any state in the South East, South West and the South South because the areas that had the problems were about 10 states, mainly North Central, and a few states in North West and North East.
Responding to questions from the law students he said in most places, wealth was measured by the number of cattle one had.
Senator Enang said people in the southern part of the country preferred the local cow because it’s more nutritious than the ones brought from the north.
He said those in the habit of abusing their leaders who buy into the Ruga programme were not well informed on the policy, adding that their representatives in the National Assembly unanimously passed the budget for Ruga, while ministers from all the states of the federation also approved Ruga at NEC.
He noted further that each state had a representative at the Federal Executive Council, FEC, just like NASS.
Enang said the President was very sensitive to the plight of Nigerian, hence the call for the suspension of the Ruga policy.
“The Ruga is an investment programme that will generate money for the state and the country at large. Ruga (Rural Grazing Areas) started in 1956),” he said, appealing to all Nigerians to stop politicizing the implementation of the policy.
The students appreciated the senator appealing to government to increase its public enlightenment programme to enable the citizens understand better its policies and programmes in order to avoid rancour.
Ndifreke Inyang, leader of the Akwa Ibom State Students of the Nigerian Law School, Abuja Campus, said: “We came here today to pay a courtesy call on Senator Ita Enang in keeping with his 20 years tradition of hosting law students, being that he is a lawyer, we came to learn from his wealth of experience.
”Today, the distinguished senator took a different dimension by enlightening us on the issue of Rural Grazing Area, RUGA. I recall that about two months ago, there was crisis in Taraba and Benue states.”
Another law student, Anastasia Ligiounim Ugbaka, an indigene of Obudu, Cross River State, said the notion by most Nigerians was that the federal government was out to take land from the people and islamise the country through the RUGA programme.
She urged the government to expand the Obudu Cattle ranch and increase the number of cattle and other animals so as to create jobs.
