Ruga is an initiative to establish confined settlements for herdsmen
The governor of Kano state, Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has kick-started the erection of ‘Ruga’ fort for herders in the state to benefit from.
The Ruga project which is erected in the Yansoshi Forest of Kiru Local Government Area, will comprise of about 200 houses, a hospital, schools, a police station, as well as a sizeable dam for raising livestock and other facilities.
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Recall that the federal government of Nigeria had suggested the initiation of the ‘Ruga’ project across the federation in a bid to curb the tension between farmers and herders.
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The move had encountered heavy criticism from different quarters of Nigeria especially the south, pointing to suspicions that there maybe an ulterior motive behind the initiative.
Community leaders and several southern governors openly and vehemently opposed the federal government for planning to use their lands to build the proposed Ruga settlements.
Major persons who opposed the Ruga idea by the government believed that it was all ploy to force communities to cede their lands to the Fulani herdsmen.
The Federal Government did forgo it’s plans and left the decision for state governors to make. Thus, state governors are solely responsible to establish the Ruga settlements or not in their states.
Some northern states have taken up the initiative of establishment the Ruga settlements for the benefit of the herders.
Each settlement is expected to have basic needs of the herdsmen in place, to enable them mange their livestock.
Beneficiaries of the Ruga settlements are expected to pay taxes to the states in order to gain access to the facilities.
The whole idea is to permanently put to rest the hostilities between farmers and herdsmen in the country.
