Nasarawa will Continue with Ruga Settlement Project, Gov Insists

Nasarawa will Continue with Ruga Settlement Project, Gov Insists

 Igbawase Ukumba in Lafia

Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, has insisted that the state government will continue with the implementation of the Ruga Settlement Project recently suspended by the federal government.

The governor stated this yesterday when he received the leadership of Fulani ethnic nationality residing in the state, who paid him a visit to felicitate with his efforts to sustain the already peaceful atmosphere being experienced in the state.

According to Sule, “The Ruga Settlement Project was not brought to the state by anybody. But in my quest at searching for means that could bring a lasting peace in the state, I personally went to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and understudy the pros and cons of the project where I discovered some substantial benefits derivable from it when I subsequently demanded that it should be established in Nasarawa State.

“It was after understanding the benefits that Ruga settlement would bring to the state that I summoned traditional rulers in the state to discuss the issue which they unanimously assented to the programme. We in the state are going ahead with the Ruga project as an experiment for other states of the federation to emulate.”

He continued that it was on his desire to sustain the already existing peace being experienced in the state that he recently visited his Benue State counterpart, Samuel Ortom, to solicit for his support in order for the two states to maintain peace on their border areas.

“It was on my quest to sustain peace in Nasarawa State that I went to Benue State to discuss with the governor. I told the governor that he has the right to do things that would bring peace to his state, but that he should also know that Fulani people are also indigenes of Benue State,” Sule concluded.

Earlier, the Sarkin Fulani of Nasarawa State, Senator Walid Jibrin, said the Fulani people in the state were in full support of Ruga Settlement Project which is embraced by the state government in order to mitigate the persistent conflicts between herdsmen and farmers.

Jibrin, who is also the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), however, begged other ethnic groups, especially the Igbo and Yoruba, to give the Ruga Settlement Project a chance to take off in their areas.

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