Use N2.2bn budgeted for Ruga to rebuild houses burnt by herdsmen instead, Plateau youths tell Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to use the N2.2 billion for Ruga settlements in the 2019 budget to rebuild communities destroyed by alleged killer herdsmen in Plateau State.

The call was made by the National Association of Miango Youth Development, Plateau State, on Wednesday in a statement signed by the Publicity Secretary of the group, Lawrence Zango.

According to the group, the Federal government cannot address herder-farmer clashes by providing Ruga settlements for herdsmen.

The statement by Zango reads, “I am surprised that the Fulani Ruga settlement is in the budget again; the Federal government should rebuild burnt and destroyed houses, by Fulani herdsmen before giving them N2.2b for Ruga settlement.

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“Federal government can’t address herders-farmers clash by giving the Fulani herders huge amount of money to build Ruga settlement for them.

“The plans by the Federal government to wrongly compensate Fulani herdsmen with huge amount of money for Ruga settlement is wrong; it is a capital injustice. That means the Federal government knows that it is the Fulani who are killing, destroying farms and burning farmers’ houses in their host communities.

“Rural ethnic nationalities on the Plateau have suffered a lot and are still suffering from the Fulani attacks. From 2017 to date, Irigwe Chiefdom of Bassa LGA, has lost 333 people to Fulani herdsmen attacks and more than 1,500 houses burnt and razed down, schools and churches burnt and farms destroyed.

“The Federal government should rebuild the burnt houses first and compensate affected farmers who are the persons of concern not building Ruga settlement for Fulani in the host community of farmers who are traumatised as a result of the attacks by armed Fulani militias”.

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