Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State on Tuesday took a position on the federal government’s plan to establish RUGA settlements in some states of the federation.
With an emphatic negative reaction to the proposal by the Buhari-led APC federal government, Akeredolu maintained that the state was not interested in making land available for RUGA Settlements.
The governor, who revealed this on his verified Twitter handle, stated that the state will only resuscitate the existing moribund ranches in the northern senatorial district area of the state instead of establishing RUGA settlements.
According to him, one of the ranches, which can accommodate 5,000 herds of cattle would help solve the unemployment crisis in the state.
His tweets read: “Our stance on the Ruga settlements debate is clear. Ondo is only interested in ranches. We have 2 large ranches existing in Akunnu and Auga.
“Auga can accommodate 5000 cows. A key difference here is that we have no preference for who manages the cattle. The ranch owners decide.
“Primary reason for #RugaSettlements although understandable does not truly factor the interests of every State. We have a youth unemployment crisis our ranches can address. Ondo State must prioritize agriculture due to the arable nature of our land.
“A lot of our land is already earmarked for forest reserves. The FG must understand why we need to be strategic in our decision making. We implore the FG to revisit the proposal based on feedback from the different States & act accordingly.”
Recall that the federal government had emphasized that with the establishment of RUGA settlements, the persistent clashes between Fulani herders and farmers will be curbed.
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