(Special Report) Another review of deadly reactions trailing suspension of Ruga
Though the dusts generated by the tactical smuggling in and veiled suspension of the Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) Settlement plot by the Federal Ministry Agriculture and Rural Development in the clear absence of supervising Minister, appeared very hard to settle, reactions have continued to be elicited.
Nigeria loses between 450,000 and 600,000 hectares of forest to deforestation annually to rank among the countries with the highest rate of deforestation in the world.
The National Coordinator, Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, Dr Salisu Dahiru, disclosed this in Benin, while delivering the 10th Environmental Outreach Magazine public lecture.
Only recently, two Southern personalities including the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Odunwusi and Prof Wole Soyinka, openly asked Nigerians of southern extraction to open their eyes and guide their ancestral lands with everything they can muster.
This is coming just as the South East Socio-cultural body, Ohaneze Ndigbo replied the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), led by one Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, who gave the Federal Government a 30-day ultimatum to either reconsider introducing back Ruga or businesses operated by southerners in the north may become person non-grata.
Whereas leaders of thought are still in shocks as to why no form of security action had been taken on the leaders of the CNG for making such hate and dangerous speech in both national TV and other media formats by the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration, statistics have shown that the northern part of the country has the best natural outlay for cattle breeding considering the massive landmass of every of the 19 northern states.
Nigerian 36 States in Order of Landmass in square km
1 Niger State 76,363
2 Borno State 70,898
3 Taraba State 54,473
4 Kaduna State 46,053
5 Bauchi State 45,837
6 Yobe State 45,502
7 Zamfara State 39,762
8 Adamawa State 36,917
9 Kwara State 36,825
10 Kebbi State 36,800
11 Benue State 34,059
12 Plateau State 30,913
13 Kogi State 29,833
14 Oyo State 28,454
15 Nasarawa State 27,117
16 Sokoto State 25,973
17 Katsina State 24,192
18 Jigawa State 23,154
19 Cross River State 20,156
20 Kano State 20,131
21 Gombe State 18,768
22 Edo State 17,802
23 Delta State 17,698
24 Ogun State 16,762
25 Ondo State 15,500
26 Rivers State 11,077
27 Bayelsa State 10,773
28 Osun State 9,251
* Federal Capital Territory 7,315
29 Enugu State. 7,161
30 Akwa Ibom State 7,081
31 Ekiti State 6,353
32 Abia State 6,320
33 Ebonyi State 5,670
34 Imo State 5,530
35 Anambra State 4,844
36 Lagos State 3,345
Analysis from the figures showed that all the South East state put together has 29525KM², which is even less than the total landmass of Kogi which has 29833KM².
Also, all South West States excluding Lagos (which is the least among all states in Nigeria) have a total of 76320KM² which is less than Niger State landmass of 76363KM²
Observers say the North has more than enough land to take care of RUGA and that the scheme need not be across Nigeria due to scarcity of lands in the southern states.
