Herders given a sense of impunity, RUGA must prioritize humanity- Soyinka

Speaking on the proposed RUGA settlements, Nobel Laurette, Wole Soyinka, has noted that cattle must not take priority over human beings.

He cautioned that the implementation of ranching or any other initiative to solve the herders/farmers crisis should be done with humanity as a priority.

Soyinka made this comment while fielding questions from journalists about the recently proposed Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) initiative at an event on Tuesday.

According to him, the RUGA initiative is an explosive issue that needs to be handled carefully.

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“There cannot be any kind of society where cattle take priority over human beings,” he said.

He also suggested that the ranching system can be adopted, however, it has to be done in an area that will have no negative impact on human lives.

“There’s nothing so strange or mysterious about cattle rearing so why should cattle become a problem just because we like to eat beef. I don’t understand it, there are solutions which are very simple.

“People have talked about ranching but the ranching has to be done in places that are environmentally congenial to that kind of trade and at the same time do not afflict humanity”.

While lamenting that hundreds have been killed in farmer/herder clashes across the country, the Nobel Laureate blamed the situation on poor leadership.

“People are being killed in hundreds till today and it’s only because of the failure of the leadership at the critical time.

“The cattle rearers have been given a sense of impunity, they kill without any compunction, they drive farmers who are contributing to the food solution of the country, burn and eat their crops and then you come with RUGA?” he said.

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