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A coalition of Benue professionals under the aegis of the OnTiv Professionals Association (OPA), Abuja, has kicked against the Federal Government’s proposed national ranching pilot scheme, insisting that Benue State must not be included until millions of its displaced citizens are first resettled in their ancestral homes.
In a statement signed by its President, Engr. Abraham O. Aku, and General Secretary, Jacob Gwaza Akaanan, the Benue professionals were reacting to the Federal Government’s recent selection of Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Adamawa and the Federal Capital Territory as pilot states for the scheme, which is being driven by the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development to end open grazing and curb farmer-herder clashes.
The professionals argued that the choice of Benue defies logic, noting that the state’s economy is anchored on crop farming rather than large-scale livestock production, unlike far northern states that they said hold a natural advantage in land mass and livestock tradition.
The group pointed out that Benue had already outlawed open grazing through its 2017 Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law, signed by then-Governor Samuel Ortom, but said the Federal Government undermined the law by refusing to back its enforcement with security support.
According to the professionals, that failure has left more than three million Benue residents displaced by herdsmen attacks, with many still living in degrading conditions in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, while their ancestral lands are allegedly occupied by the same herdsmen the law sought to check.
“So what are the intentions of the federal government in this regard? Is the government planning the pilot schemes on lands whose citizens have been killed, displaced and are languishing in the IDPs?” the statement queried, describing it as insensitive for Abuja to unveil ranching plans while displaced Benue families await resettlement.
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The Benue professionals clarified that they are not opposed to livestock ranching in principle, but want it “domesticated” — carried out by Benue people themselves, using local livestock and other ruminants rather than being opened up to outsiders settling on Benue land with their herds.
They also alleged a pattern of controversial federal agricultural policies repeatedly targeting the state, from the rejected cattle colony proposal to the National Water Resources Bill and grazing route plans.
The group further raised concern over what it described as attempts at forceful land annexation, insisting that any ranching arrangement must be voluntary, legally secured and subject to Benue’s own land-use laws, without any surrender of the state’s control over land-use decisions to a federal template.
OPA listed community consultation, guarantees against land transfer, a ban on armed protection for private ranches outside the law, equal access to justice and independent monitoring as non-negotiable conditions for any engagement with the scheme.
The Benue professionals also called on Governor Hyacinth Alia to defend the state’s existing anti-open-grazing law and negotiate with the Federal Government “from the standpoint of constitutional competence rather than political subservience,” urging Abuja to approach Benue “as a partner, facilitator and enabler, not as a landlord.”
