Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum and Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi says there are no plans for the establishment of any Ruga or herdsmen settlement in any part of the South-East.

Speaking on Sunday through a statement issued by Emmanuel Uzor, his Chief Press Secretary, Umahi said the zone can make profit from the sale of grass to the herdsmen in exchange for meat. 

The governor said the proposed deal with the members of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) would be a panecea to incessant clashes between farmers and herdsmen across Nigeria.

Umahi maintained that no part of the South-East will be given out for establishment of Ruga as the zone was purely agrarian, with limited landmass for farming.

Umahi said the zone actually proposed a deal with MACBAN to take their cattle to the Northern parts where grazing reserves have been established and rely completely on the grass grown in the South for feeding their cattle.

“The way it works is that the herdsmen will bring down their cows to the South-East and sell to us as meat while they will load the grasses which are grown here in the same trailer with which they transported their cows to feed their cattle in those grazing reserve which should be made comfortable for them,” the statement read in part.

It added that with the proposed deal, herdsmen are expected to embrace anti-open grazing by returning to the ranches in the north and do their business by selling cows to the south in exchange for grass to feed their cows in the north.