Ruga settlement: Presidency summons agric permanent secretary
- The permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Muhammadu Umar, has been summoned by the presidency
- The presidency summoned Umar on Thursday, June 27, after he announced that the federal government would implement its cattle settlement
- According to a source at the ministry, the presidency summoned the permanent secretary to explain his statement
The presidency on Thursday, June 27, summoned the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Muhammadu Umar.
He was summoned after the criticisms that followed his announcement that the federal government would implement its cattle settlement policy tagged Ruga settlement, This Day reports.
Legit.ng gathers that a source at the ministry said the presidency summoned the permanent secretary to explain his statement, which is believed to be unauthorised.
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A source said: “Obviously, the Perm Sec was too forward in his pronouncement. While it is true that the federal government had the policy on the ground, it was still negotiating with some of the states involved and wanted a consensus before proceeding with implementation.
“But with the serious resistance from most of the pilot states, it is not impossible for the federal government to abandon the policy.”
Umar had on Monday, June 24, stated that the federal government had commenced the establishment of “Ruga Settlements” in 12 pilot states for the benefits of cattle rearers.
He said: “It is a concept that we developed to deal with internal security and we felt that to do away with herders and farmers’ conflict, we need to settle those that breed animals.
“We want to get them a place whereby we develop a settlement for them, we provide water for their animals, we provide pasture, we provide schools for their children; we provide security, agro-rangers.
“We also felt we need to develop cattle markets whereby you don’t need to be transporting animals for a very long distance.
“Under the new plan, cattle herders are expected to be registered and recognised with cooperatives for the purpose of the ranching scheme.
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“These cooperatives will then be able to get rental agreements for land from state governments and also benefit from ranch resources on several terms including loans, grants, and subsidies.
“The Ruga settlement is one of the very important things not only in Nigeria but most of the countries in the Sub-Saharan.”
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the federal government debunked claims that cattle ranches to be set in different states and locations were solely for herdsmen.
FG said a programme which would gulp N70 billion in the first three years of its implementation would be open for any individual interested in grazing his cattle in any of the facilities in the 10 states where the pilot scheme would start.
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