Follow Us on Google
It is very sad that when trouble is sleeping, “iyanga” will go a long way to look for him and wake it. Iyanga is probably sleeping and dozing off before Iyanga straddles to wake it up. This opening salvo ought to have been better and beautifully rendered in Nigerian Pidgin English but half bread is better than none.
My Pidgin English rendition of the above will be something like “When trouble de sleep, iyanga go wake m.” Please bear with me if my Pidgin English is not good enough. “At all all na him bad.” “Iyanga” as used in this article represents pride. No doubt, the English Language has suffered much in the hands of post-colonial citizens and users of the language.
Chinua Achebe has explained that it is the price the language will pay for intruding in our affairs. That is why we have many “englishes” in Nigeria and other ex-colonial entities in Africa, Asia, and other places. After all, our ancestors did not ask the white man to come and govern us and introduce his language instead of using our mother tongue to relate with us.
This is the way I see the recent move by the Federal Government to introduce Ruga settlements in some parts of the country for the welfare of cattle and their Fulani herders. Ruga settlements will cause more harm than good to the nation’s corporate existence as one nation.
What is happening before our eyes over the controversial Ruga settlements can be likened to Achebe’s philosophical thoughts in Arrow of God: “When suffering knocks at your door and you say there is no seat left for him, he tells you not to worry because he has brought his own stool.” (84)
Like the narrator in Achebe’s Arrow of God, other Nigerians have told the Federal Government that they have no land even for their own people, and for Ruga settlements yet, the government is adamant in moving ahead with its plan to establish cattle colonies in those areas by fire and by force. It is doing so probably because it has come with its own stool as depicted by Achebe.
Even if the government says that the outrageous idea is being initially implemented in 12 or more states, it is still dead on arrival. The Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has warned the government over the inimical project. According to him, “I think that there is going to be trouble in this country if this Ruga thing is not handled imaginatively and with humanity as priority.
Any country where cattle take priority over human life is definitely at an elementary stage.” The prioritization of cattle over human life, which the professor alluded to, can be inferred from the penchant of this administration to pursue the welfare of cattle since inception in 2015. The APC Federal Government and their supporters should be thinking of how to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty and nothing inventing cattle colonies for those whose business is cattle farming.
I do not know why this government is more interested in cattle than in the welfare of millions of Nigerians who are living below poverty level. Ruga settlement whether it is experimental or imagined or real is a concept that will definitely set Nigeria on fire. Those promoting the new colonies in Nigeria after nearly six decades of independence do not wish Nigeria well.
They are fast working for the quick disintegration of the country. The Federal Government should wash its hands off any form of Ruga settlement or cattle colony and in fact anything to do with cattle farming. It should stop promoting cattle farming over other forms of farming. Animal husbandry is a private business and should be treated as such. Cattle farmers should access agricultural loans just like other farmers and establish ranches of their own.
Poultry farmers and yam farmers do so. Rice farmers and palm oil, cocoa and rubber farmers do so without the Federal Government establishing settlements for them in all the states of the federation as the APC-led Federal Government wants to do in its second term in office. It is good that the people of the entire South and some states in the Middle Belt have opposed this unsettling land-grabbing policy. It is also good that the governments of the aforementioned regions have rejected the ominous and vexatious land acquisition policy.
The Federal Government should not play with fire because of its dangerous consequences. Nigeria is a federation of 36 states. It is never a unitary government. At times what happens in Nigeria reminds me of animal tales and myths. That is why snakes and crocodiles swallow money in Nigeria. Monkeys and baboons feature prominently in our political praxis and every day discourse. Jackals, hyenas and lions have featured in political narratologies in recent times.
I pity those in government who are strongly defending the offensive Ruga land policy. They should think of where their vision is leading Nigeria to and not what they stand to gain in the interim. If a policy is bad, it is bad. It does not really matter who is pushing it and for what purpose. The Ruga policy will heighten the herdsmen killings instead of abating them. It will increase the so-called herders/farmers clashes, a euphemism for herders’ impunity.
It is worrisome that Nigeria cannot embrace ranching which has worked in other countries that even produce more and better cattle than Nigeria. We should not be losing human beings because of cattle. Nigerians should no longer be killed because some people are in cattle farming. Those interested in cattle farming must embrace ranching. It is never the duty of the Federal Government to do this.
The Federal Government should worry itself on how to ensure good governance in the country. It should worry over rising unemployment and how to create more jobs for millions of Nigerians.
It should worry itself on how to adequately fund its universities, teaching hospitals and research institutes. It should be concerned with federal roads begging for urgent attention.
The Federal Government should never emulate Iyanga that wakes trouble up through its unbridled pursuit of the Ruga land policy. It should allow trouble to enjoy its eternal sleep. Government’s suspension of the Ruga policy is not enough, it should be cancelled.
