Ita Enang, the Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly matters, has said the Federal Government has already budgeted N2.2 billion for the implementation of Ruga programme in the 2019 budget
Following nationwide outcry against the plan, the federal government had announced its suspension about a month ago.
But speaking with students of the law school in Abuja from Akwa Ibom, Enang noted that Ruga is not a derivative of Hausa or Fulfude, but an acronym for rural grazing area (RUGA) which was initiated in 1956 during the colonial era.
He cited the 2019 federal budget, volume 1 under the ministry of agricultural and rural development item number ERGP 5208 where the sum of N2.258 billion was provided for the grazing programme.
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He explained that members of the national assembly members were not against the programme because they aware of it and had approved funds for its implementation.
He said besides funds provided for the programme, the sum of N300 million was also budgeted for water sanitation; N400 million for development of sweet potatoes and N350 million for ginger farming.
”The idea of Ruga graduated in 1978 into the Land Use Act which states that a portion of land has to be reserved for grazing to avoid the destruction of farm produce by cattle,” he said.
”Over time cattle roamed and destroyed farms hence the introduction of the policy to address the issue.’’
Denying claims that the programme has been gulping public funds annually, he said its an offshoot of solutions to the herder-farmer crisis in the middle-belt and in some states in northeast and northwest.