Position Paper On The Establishment of RUGA Settlements In Benue State By OnTiv Professionals Association

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OnTiv Professionals Association, an association of Tiv Professionals practicing in Abuja the Federal Capital Territory, registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission to amongst other reasons, to be interested in the affairs in Tiv land, is aware of the pronouncement of the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to establish RUGA Settlements in parts of the country including Benue State.  We are particularly concerned about the inclusion of Benue, a state that has been under the siege of Fulani Herdsmen, in the programme without proper consultation with the State Government and the people of the state whose lands are to be taken up for the said project.

As a registered body concerned with the wellbeing of the state and particularly the Tiv nation, we feel obliged to add our voice to the calls by the State Government and other sectors of the State calling for the suspension of the said project.  This is informed by our belief that the position to establish the RUGA Settlements does not articulate the views of the people of the state neither does it bring in any positive dividend to the people of the State. Our position is further strengthened by the existence of “A Law to Prohibit Open Rearing and Grazing of Livestock and Provide for the Establishment of Ranches and Livestock Administration, Regulation and Control and for Other Matters Connected Therewith”(2017) validly passed by the State House of Assembly for the protection of the farmers and law abiding people of the State. The  families and property of our people has been adversary threatened by the Fulani Herdsmen, who over the years have invaded, killed, displaced and attempted to take over our homes and farmlands but who unfortunately, this project stand to directly benefit.

We align ourselves completely with the position of the State Government, expressed through the Chief Press Secretary, confirming the inconclusive discussion on this matter with the officials of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture before the mobilization to site by Contractors of the Federal Government. In making our case, we wish to request clarification on the following issues:

How did the Federal Government come to the conclusion of selecting three local governments of Ukum, Tarka and Otukpo in Benue State without consultation with the State Government on the availability of land or otherwise for the programme?;

Who offered the said lands to the Federal Government without the consent of the inhabitants who presently occupy and farm on the said land considering that the State is predominantly  farmers and that this decision has potential to negatively affect their ability to continue farming activities on their ancestral lands?;

Who is vested with the control and management of land within a state as provided for in the Land Use Act?

Has the land for the Project been properly acquired and compensation paid?

Who has set aside the validly passed State Law prohibiting open grazing of livestock in the State to warrant the approval of the project by the Federal Government in the State?

What is the haste in mobilizing contractors to site when discussions were still ongoing with the representatives of the Federal Government?

What are the criteria of citing federal projects in states and was this followed in the case of allocating the RUGA project in Benue State?

Will a state like Benue which is the “Food Basket of the Nation” and one that has suffered immense casualties in life and property arising from Fulani Herdsmen attacks on harmless farmers not be one that a programme as RUGA should be properly worked out with the State?

What is the economic potential of the RUGA Project and how different is it with the Ranching option already agreed for by the State and the National Economic Council?

It should be noted that the introduction of the RUGA Programme and the manner in which contracts have hurriedly been awarded and contractors mobilized to site, the resultant spontaneous reactions from different quarters rising in opposition to it all over the country, calls for its suspension to allow deep consultation and creation of needed awareness on the real intention of the programme to Nigerians including the good people of Benue State.

Until these issues are explained and the needed consultations made, OnTiv Professionals Association and the entire Tiv nation will rise in opposition of this programme. In rising against it, we shall seek all lawful avenues of redress to achieve the wishes of the people of Benue State. Although we are aware that land could be acquired for Overriding Public Interest, RUGA Settlements, to our understanding, does not qualify under the Land Use Act for this criterion. We are also aware that it is settled Law as expressed in the case of R. Nkwocha v Governor of Anambra Stateby the Supreme Court of Nigeria to the effect that “Individual rights to land ownership cannot be expropriated for any other individual or group of individuals”.

The people of the State have spontaneously demonstrated with peaceful protests their dissatisfaction with this project which to the least seeks to forcefully take over Tiv ancestral lands for the Fulani ethnic group and impose eventual actualization of the takeover of the Benue Valley for the Fulani ethnic group.

We wish to be assuaged that this decision is not contemplated by the Federal Government for purpose as insinuated above and that Benue and in fact all Nigerians are proud members of project Nigeria and so will not be denied their rights to the advantage of another ethnic group in this country.

We consequently call on the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, call off the contractors, suspend the project and return to the roundtable with the State Government and people of Benue State. Anything short of this will signal, sadly, that the Benue people are targets of annexation in their fatherland Nigeria. We call on the international community and well-meaning Nigerians to hold the Federal Government accountable, should this be the case, for refusing us the right of existence. 

While promising to continue to be law abiding in the pursuit of these issues, our patience, lawful pursuit of issues and solidarity to the Nigerian project should not be undermined. Benue has already paid the ultimate price in holding this country together and to a large extent, in our desire to live peacefully with our neighbours. The wounds inflicted on us by the Fulani Herdsmen, our displacement from ancestral lands and the continued occupation of parts of the State by the Fulani intruders is still fresh in our minds. Our people are still in IDP camps facing all manner of deprivation, hunger and sickness and yet the Federal Government looks elsewhere.  

We affirm strongly that RUGA is not what the State needs at this point.  Our people need re-settlement, restoration of their pride as members of the Nigerian project, restoration to their farms to continue to feed the nation and to live peacefully with themselves believing that their protection by the government will be guaranteed. 

We consequently, call on the Federal Government, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and anybody directly or indirectly connected with the implementation of the RUGA Settlement project to stay action until parties affected by it are fully consulted and their willingness or otherwise to benefit from it is secured.

      Engr. Benjamin Nyior                                  Mr. Dennis Mernyi

      CHAIRMAN                                                       GENERAL SECRETARY

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