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| Prof. Wole Soyinka |
Nigeria's federal government had proposed the idea as a means of addressing the incessant clashes between cattle herders and farmers.
However, many stakeholders, including the Niger Delta elders and some governors, have opposed the idea from the federal government.
Voicing out his voice, Wole Soyinka said if not well handled, Ruga could cause trouble in the country.
The literary icon said the federal government's approach is not the way it is done in other parts of the world.
The Professor said President Muhammadu Buhari ought to have lost the presidential election owing to the way he handled the farmers-herders crisis.
He gave his opinion at the launch of United Nations Solution 17 SDG program in Lagos on Tuesday.
"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 cattle 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 cattle 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.
"President Buhari deserved to have lost the last election for the lackadaisical attitude he took to the issue of cattle rearing in the country.
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