THE PROBLEM WITH RUGA SETTLEMENT

Olusegun Adeniyi writes that the Ruga Settlement scheme is ill-advised

From Oyo to Osun to Ekiti, Ondo and Ogun States, Oodua Investment indeed has vast expanse of land in the South-west that is not put to any productive use. “In Imeko, Ogun State, we have 4000 hectares. In Ekiti at Oke Ako via Ayedun Ekiti after Ipao, we have 12,000 hectares. We should grow our own cattle and let the state governors that have power over land explore these opportunities”, the man wrote before adding, “Ruga on our land is being canvassed because we that own the resources are neglecting them. When problem arises, let us look at the business advantages that we can explore from it. We can create so much employment if we think out of the box.”

In a tweet on Tuesday, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State more or less endorsed that position. He argued that while the reason for the idea of ‘Ruga Settlements’ may be understandable, “it 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.” In rejecting the establishment of ‘Ruga Settlement’ in Ondo, just as his Ekiti State counterpart, Dr Kayode Fayemi had earlier done, Akeredolu added: “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 and act accordingly.”

If the idea of RUGA is about animal husbandry, there is hardly any part of the country where there are no abandoned ranches from the First Republic that the states can revive aside the River Basins of the Second Republic that are also lying fallow. But this would require more than the current whimsical approach that raises suspicion about the real intention. Given how fragile peace has become in Nigeria, introducing a controversial policy without in-house consensus and wide consultations with critical stakeholders was always going to be a problem. The deceitful manner in which the implementation was being handled made it difficult to counter the argument of those who insist there was a sinister agenda behind it.

Three news items have been trending in Nigeria in the past week: The rape allegation against the Senior Pastor of COZA, the ‘Ruga Settlement’ palaver and the assault on a woman by a Senator. There is a way in which we can connect the three issues in that they speak to both violation and impunity. In one of the online forums where ‘Ruga Settlement’ was discussed with a measure of moderation, a commentator wrote: “There is a Ranch stretching from Mokwa to Kanji with all facilities including aircraft landing strip, clinic, workers housing estate, swimming pool, refrigerators, etc., owned by Niger State government that can accommodate all the cows in this country. It gets its electricity directly from Kanji...whatever happened to it?”

Responding to the question, another person cited what happened to the Native Americans and the Australian Aborigines as a reason why the ‘Ruga Settlement’ idea could be a ruse, before he added: “…what they are attempting now is completely something else, in terms of its nature, scale and long-term effects. It has nothing to do with agriculture or agrarian reform; but a clever device for altering the ethnic, cultural and religious identity of Nigeria by stealth - through a combination of open borders and ethnicbased land redistribution for the Fulani and related ethnic groups....”

While I do not subscribe to such a conspiracy theory, for a project that has both national and international security implications, it is difficult to understand why no buy-in was sought before contracts were being awarded for the construction of ‘Ruga Settlements’ by some rogue civil servants. There is also no evidence that the money being spent was appropriated by the National Assembly. This is aside the fact that the implementation was coming at a time the president is running the country as a sole administrator with neither a cabinet in place nor officially announced aides.

That we are faced with economic challenges that require modernization of old modes of production is not in doubt. But the approach to the problems associated with the changing security and social integration challenges in our country is at the root of the current crisis. At a period when an atmosphere of ethno-religious suspicion has replaced the previous harmonious coexistence, somebody ought to have anticipated that whatever its merits, implementing a Ruga scheme demands more than merely awarding contracts.

With the VP insisting that the project he superintends is different from the ‘Ruga Settlement’ idea that both MACBAN official and presidential spokesman said was being implemented, it could only be one of two things. Either Osinbajo became uncomfortable with the idea he was driving or he found out about a different conversation happening elsewhere that he was not privy to. At the end, it turned out that the strings were being pulled by some civil servants in the ministry of agriculture who definitely must have powerful enablers.

With the crisis generated, it was no surprise that the process had to be suspended. Under the prevailing circumstance, a continuation of the ‘Ruga Settlement’ idea may open up new spaces of conflict - a case of digging a ditch to fill a pothole. Staying action for proper consultations so that there could be an elite consensus as a way forward therefore makes more sense. However, with contracts already being awarded from Abuja in what looks like another transactional enterprise, we may not have had the last of this project. As the federal government therefore comes to terms with the fiasco it created over the suspended Ruga Settlement project, I hope sufficient lessons will be learnt on how not to drive public policy in a diverse society like ours.