A frontline politician and the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Chief Simon Shango, has urged the federal government to repackage Pulaku Initiative and change its name to suit peculiarities of communities.
He said, the Pulaku Initiative laudable as it appears, may be ill fated or counter- productive if not critically analysed.
He noted that the name Pulaku which connotes the Fulani code of behaviour may elicit distrust among the people of other communities who view them with apprehension based on years of perennial clashes over land resources.
Speaking with Blueprint in Abuja weekend, Chief Shango said, “If this Pulaku Initiative is implemented in communities which have experienced perennial clashes with the herders, it will appear as if the government is encouraging the land grabbing agenda which the Fulani’s have sworn to enforce in some communities where they presently occupy after sacking them from their ancestral homes.”
The APC chieftain stated that for this reason, the name needs to be changed to reflect the particular communities that may be chosen as beneficiaries as Radio Nigeria did when it established Fm stations in all the 36 states under the then, President Olusegun Obasanjo, but named them according to the peculiarities of each state, like Harvest Fm in Benue state, known for its food basket status, Highland Fm Jos, Precious Fm Lafia Nasarawa state, Prime Fm, Lokoja, in Kogi state.
“The implementing this Pulaku Initiative should avoid prototype housing units but endeavour to tailor them according to the ancestral or cultural architecture of the various communities where they will be established.
He noted that care should also be taken to ensure that benefitting communities are not chosen to satisfy political interests but equity, cultural affinity and resourcefulness should be some of the yardsticks to be considered.
