Herdsmen are given a way of freedom,' Soyinka kicks against RUGA

Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, has kicked against the institution of fold settlements altogether states of Nigeria.

Speaking at the launch of world organization Solutions seventeen SDG Programme in Lagos on Tues, July 2, 2019, Soyinka same fold may lead to AN explosion if not handled properly.


Ruga was planned by the central as a method of addressing the incessant clashes between farmers and Bos taurus herders.

Soyinka, however, believes that the planned fold settlement isn't the simplest approach to partitioning the herders-farmers crisis in Nigeria.

“Ruga is going to be an explosion if not handled with care. But why do we not take our policies from good models?” he asked.

“This is not the way people and countries deal with issues of cattle. I travel everywhere. It has to be handled in a way that is logical, comprehensible to the environment. When a cow walks up to the window of my house in Abeokuta, a house which is located in a residential area, then there’s a problem.

“When a cow goes to Ijebu Ode and eat up their plant seedlings and so on and you expect people to be quiet? People have been killed in hundreds just because of the failure of leadership at a critical time.

“And the cattle herders have been given a sense of impunity. They kill without any compunction, they drive away the farmers who have been contributing to the food solutions in the country, the cattle eat their crops and then you come up with Ruga.

“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 takes priority over human life is definitely at an elementary stage,” Soyinka declared.

According to TheCable, Soyinka same President Muhammadu Buhari "ought to possess lost the presidential election" thanks to the method he handled the farmers-herders crisis.