Godwin Tsa, Abuja
An Abuja-based human rights activist, Hameed Ajibola, has called on local government areas in the country to sue the Federal government over the controversial RUGA cattle settlement.
While calling for the outright cancellation of the project, the lawyer accused the Federal government if trying to play with the intelligence of Nigerians as regards the proposed RUGA project.
He was reacting to the recent call by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, on states in the southern part of the country to support the implementation of the proposed RUGA cattle settlement programme by making land available.
Sen. Enang had while hosting students of Law School Abuja from Akwa Ibom State at the weekend, disclosed that the sum of N2.258 billion had been provided for the implementation of the RUGA project in the 2019 budget.
He explained the word – RUGA is not derived from Hausa or Fulani, but an acronym for Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) initiated in 1956 during the colonial era.
According to the presidential aide: “RUGA is not a plan to seize land from people neither and it’s not meant to fulanize or colonize anybody.
”The Programme is meant to address the issue of cattle roaming and destruction of farmland which would put an end to the herders/farmers crisis, ” Enang explained.
However, speaking with Daily Sun on issue, Ajibola said the comment by Senator Enang had exposed the Federal government’s insincerity to Nigerians.
” Federal government cannot be talking from both sides of the mouth. On one breathe, it announced the suspension of RUGA and with the same mouth, it is appealing to states from the southern part to support the project.
“It is my position that the Federal government should outrightly cancelled the RUGA project instead of suspension because the project is not of national or public interest.
“RUGA project is not for public interest and so you cannot revoke the right of occupancy of anybody whether customary or statutory for the purpose of implementing the project.
“The onus is on the Federal government to prove to Nigerians how RUGA relates to public interest.
“The Federal government lacked the powers to allocate people’s land for the execution of the project. The issue of RUGA is not different from grazing. Even state governors lack the constitution powers to allocate parcels of land for the project because it is only a local government area that has powers to allocate local land for that purpose.
Under the Land Use Act under section 305 of the constitution, both Federal and state government lacks the powers to allocate any local land, because the RUGA project is expected to be established in local areas and not urban cities.
“Embarking on the project without collaborating with the local government areas is an illegality and unconstitutional.
” Local government areas should be speaking for themselves and they can sue the Federal government for the court to determine whether the Federal government has any right to take over their land.
The Federal government had at the heat of the uproar over the project, announced the suspension of the planned Ruga settlement project.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s New Media aide, Bashir Ahmad, confirmed the suspension on his verified Twitter handle.
He tweeted: “The Federal government after consultations with stakeholders has suspended the RUGA Settlement Project, for now.