'Herdsmen have been given a sense of impunity,' Soyinka kicks against RUGA

Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, has kicked against the establishment of RUGA settlements in all states of Nigeria.

Speaking at the launch of United Nations Solutions 17 SDG Programme in Lagos on Tuesday, July 2, 2019, Soyinka said Ruga could lead to an explosion if not handled properly.

Ruga was conceived by the Federal Government as a means of addressing the incessant clashes between farmers and cattle herders.

Soyinka, however, believes that the proposed Ruga settlement is not the best approach to resolving the herders-farmers crisis in Nigeria.

“Ruga is going to be an explosion if not handled with care. But why do we not take our policies from good models?” he asked.

“This is not the way people and countries deal with issues of cattle. I travel everywhere. It has to be handled in a way that is logical, comprehensible to the environment. When a cow walks up to the window of my house in Abeokuta, a house which is located in a residential area, then there’s a problem.

“When a cow goes to Ijebu Ode and eat up their plant seedlings and so on and you expect people to be quiet? People have been killed in hundreds just because of the failure of leadership at a critical time.

“And the cattle herders have been given a sense of impunity. They kill without any compunction, they drive away the farmers who have been contributing to the food solutions in the country, the cattle eat their crops and then you come up with Ruga.

“I think that there is going to be trouble in this country if this Ruga thing is not handled imaginatively and with humanity as priority. Any country where cattle takes priority over human life is definitely at an elementary stage,” Soyinka declared.

According to TheCable, Soyinka said President Muhammadu Buhari "ought to have lost the presidential election" owing to the way he handled the farmers-herders crisis.

However, many stakeholders, including Governor Samuel Ortom, and Niger Delta elders have opposed the establishment of Ruga settlements in their states.