Osinbajo meets governors over Ruga controversies

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is currently in a meeting with governors from the six geopolitical zones in the presidential villa, Abuja.

The parley, it was learnt, is in connection with the controversy following the planned implementation of the rural grazing area (RUGA) programme by the federal government in some states of the country.

The National Livestock Transformation Plan, under which the Ruga programme is subsumed, was approved by the National Economic Council (NEC), which state governors as its members and chaired by Vice President Osinbajo.

NEC had on January 17, 2019, approved the plan, predicating its decision on the recommendations of a technical committee of the Council chaired by Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State.

The governors at the ongoing meeting include Dave Umahi (Ebonyi) Simon Lalong (Plateau), Engineer Martins Nasir Deputy governor (Adamawa) and Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) are members of the National Food Security/Herders/Farmers Conflict.

Other State Governors on the committee and Working Group of NEC are those from Kaduna, Benue, Taraba, Edo, Plateau, Oyo and Zamfara – mostly the Frontline States in the Farmer-Herder crises.

Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, had in a statement to exonerate the Vice President as being the brain behind Ruga implementation explained that:

“The National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) 2019-2028 is a programme to be implemented in 7 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. Afterward, six other States have indicated readiness to also implement the plan. They are Katsina, Kano, Kogi, Kwara, Ondo, and Edo states.

Akande said 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, ” he noted.