THE Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has said that the establishment of cattle colonies across the 16 states that donated 5000 hectares of land each will commence this week. The 16 states that donated lands for the Cattle colonies includes Adamawa, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna, Borno, Jigawa, Yobe, Niger, Kogi, and Kwara state. Ogbeh, however, denied accusations that the Federal Government Cattle Colony Programme is designed to seize local farm land and hand them over to Fulani herdsmen; saying nothing could be further from the truth. “When we speak of colonies, we are immediately greeted with reactions that this was an attempt to seize Nigerian land, hand them over to Fulani- herdsmen to colonise. “It is to provide safe haven for cattle to graze in peace, to prevent conflicts between farmers and herdsmen.

Source: Nigerian Tribune January 23, 2018 03:54 UTC