SAN FRANCISCO, September 12, (THEWILL) – Nigerian Northern State Governors rose from an emergency meeting in Kaduna Thursday formally adopting the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) as the most effective means of ending the decades long clashes between landowners and herdsmen, effectively dealing a brutal and final blow to the highly charged and controversial Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) plan proposed by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.
Chairman of the forum, Governor Simon Lalong, who announced the development to journalists at the end of the meeting, said the plan lays out a clear path for modernizing pastoral activities adding that the governors also resolved to continue to adopt a sustainable and holistic approach towards tackling the security challenges in the region.
“On Agriculture, the Forum was well informed about the National Livestock Transformation Plan and its disparities with the RUGA plan. It is expected that the plan would ensure resettling and addressing the dislocated populations in the key conflict zones to enable them become part of the agricultural modernization process.
“The Forum, therefore, adopted the National Livestock Transformation Plan which lays out clear path for modernizing pastoral activities and encouraged other states not included as pilot states to endeavour to join the plan,” Lalong said.
