The office of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo,Friday, said it is not supervising the establishment of cattle Fulani settlements known as Ruga in parts of the country, contrary to claims reported in sections of the media.
The office in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Office of the Vice-president, by Laolu Akande, said the Rug initiative is different from the National Livestock Transformation Plan approved by state governors under the auspices of the National Economic Council(NEC) chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
The statement recalled that NEC, on January17, 2019, approved the plan based on the recommendations of a technical vomited of the council chaired by the Ebonyi state Governor, Dave Umahi.
Other state governors on the committee and working group of NEC, the said are Adamawa, Kaduna, Benue, Taraba, Edo,Plateau, Oyo and Zamfara state governors, mostly frontline states in the herder-farmer crises.
The statement stated that the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) 2019-2028 is a programme to be implemented in seven pilot states of Adamawa, Benue, Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa, Taraba and Zamfara (as decided by NEC in January), being states in the frontlines of the Farmer-Herder crises.
“Afterwards, six other states have indicated readiness to also implement the plan. They are Katsina, Kano, Kogi, Kwara, Ondo, and Edo states’’, the statement said.
It added: “The plan has six pillars through which it aims to transform the livestock production system in Nigeria along market-oriented value chain while ensuring an atmosphere of peace and justice.
“The six key pillars include economic investment, conflict resolution, justice and peace, humanitarian relief and early recovery, human capital development and cross-cutting issues such as gender, youth, research and information and strategic communication. In all the federal government will not impose on any state government regarding its land.”
