Kogi will give land to herdsmen for cattle colonies – Governor Yahaya Bello

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.”