It was just a demonstration of how emotive the issue of presence of herdsmen in certain areas in Nigeria could be. The Enugu State Government, in an attempt to regulate and ensure non-denial of source of meat to its people, decided to encourage ranching in the state but the response was an uproar from the people. The authorities in Enugu have therefore been forced to debunk claims of plans to establish a Ruga settlement in the state. The Commissioner for Information, Aka Eze Aka in a statement on over the weekend disclosed that the Peter Mbah-led government does not plan to cede Uzo-Uwani Local government Area or any part of the state for Ruga Settlement. The Information Commissioner disclosed, however, that instead, the government planned to set up modern ranches as part of its agro-industrial productivity agenda to turn the states dormant assets into productive assets as well as further stem the activities of kidnappers and other criminals, who masquerade as herders.
Recall that residents of Nimbo Community protested against the state governments plan to establish Ruga in their community for herdsmen after herders had invaded and killed 40 people in the community.
The statement titled Ranch is Not Ruga, reads: The attention of the government has been drawn to insinuations and utter misrepresentation by some individuals of the good initiative of the government to use ranch to further stem the tide of kidnapping and clashes between our border people and the herders. The statement read I part, Enugu State Government is not engaging in any RUGA project in any part of the state and shall not do so. RANCH IS NOT RUGA.”
The government said it only decided to utilize ranching, which it described as a universal method now being used to rear cattle, as part of efforts to put an end to the antics of “Armed bandits and kidnappers in the name of herders (who) have for long taken advantage of our forests and farmland to commit heinous crimes, abduction, rape and killings.”
The government was reacting to the messages sent out on social media insinuating that the state government was planning to introduce RUGA, a system that was promoted by the administration of Muhammadu Buhari that was believed to have been designed to take land from the states, equipped same with modern facilities, and then make herders settle there for their business. It was resisted then because states in northcentral geo-political zone and the three zones in the southern part of the country assumed that the government wanted to seize their lands and give to Fulani who they suspect had expansionist tendency.
RUGA, despite the denial by the then government that it was designed to mitigate the constants conflict between herders and farmers, suffered a setback.