Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi
State has said his state is ready to be the pioneer testing ground for the
cattle colonies being proposed by the Federal Government across the federation.
He reassured farmers and people
of the state that it will be of immense benefits to farmers, citizens and
residents of the state.
Governor Bello, who stated this
yesterday in Lokoja in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mrs. Petra
Onyegbule, said the Federal Government was taking the decision as a measure to
quickly curb the incessant bloody clashes between farmers and herdsmen.
The statement read: “The governor
wishes to allay the fears of the citizens of Kogi State, especially on
ownership of communal land, that the policy is never an indirect attempt by the
Federal Government to take and handover ancestral land to herdsmen.
“To ensure that everyone is
carried along in this process, Kogi State, through the Ministry of Agriculture,
will soon be embarking on a series of stakeholders’ engagement to sensitise the
people, farmers, cattle breeders and other stakeholders on the implementation
of the new policy.
“The traditional rulers, leaders
of various communities, opinion leaders, religious leaders and the entire
citizens will all be carried along in the course of the stakeholders
engagement, so that we can collectively study the merits and demerits of the
policy.
“This will enable us to jointly
find solutions to the demerit and at same time improve on the merits to make it
work for our state and for our people without any form of grievances.”
Continuing Bello said: “The
insinuations and speculations from various quarters across the nation that the
Federal Govern-ment is conspiring to take over communal land and give it to
herdsmen is far from the truth.
“The planned cattle colonies is
for the interest of our people; to ensure their safety, develop and boost
agricultural production; in turn boost the economy and a better life for all.
“It is a Federal Government
initiative and the Federal Government will fund the project, but we will need
to contribute our quota to this laudable initiative at the state level by
making land available for the project in Kogi State and ensuring proper
implementation to ensure the goal is achieved.”
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