Nobel Laurette, Professor Wole Soyinka has described the proposed Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) initiative as a potential explosion waiting to happen if not handled with care.
Prof. Soyinka said of the scheme, “RUGA is going to be an explosive issue and it had better be handled very carefully. I think there’s going to be trouble in this country if this cattle rearing issue is not handled imaginatively and with humanity as the priority.
“There cannot be any kind of society where cattle take priority over human beings.
“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.
He further, opined “But why do we not take our policies from good models?
According to him “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 eats up their 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.
