NCDPA Makurdi accuses Abuja of imposing policy on “bleeding” state, demands return of displaced persons first

By Felix Umande

The Nigeria Catholic Diocesan Priests Association, NCDPA, Makurdi Diocese, has strongly rejected the Federal Government’s decision to include Benue State in the pilot phase of its National Ranching Policy, describing it as an imposition on a state already “bleeding and targeted” by violence.

In a statement signed by the Chairman, Rev. Fr. Joseph Terfa Beba, the priests said Benue was excluded from the decision-making process and warned that ranching must not become a “disguised instrument for land grabbing, forced occupation or the permanent displacement of indigenous communities.”

The Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Maiha, had announced that Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Adamawa and the FCT were selected for the pilot, with rollout beginning at the Wase Grazing Reserve in Plateau State.

The NCDPA said it was “deeply concerned about the seemingly apparent exclusion of the leadership of the Benue State Government” from the approval process.

“Had the elected leadership of Benue State been genuinely consulted, we believe it would never have consented to any arrangement capable of undermining the rights, dignity, security and ancestral heritage of our people,” the statement read.

“We cannot accept a policy imposed upon a people whose communities have suffered killings, displacement, destruction and prolonged insecurity.”

The association backed Bishop Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe, CMF, who it said “has consistently and courageously spoken against this injustice, culpable silence and every agenda that threatens the ancestral lands of our people. There is no going back on this as long as we still draw breath.”

The priests issued a firm declaration on land:
“LET THIS BE ON RECORD: Benue is predominantly an agrarian state, not a pastoralist society. Ranching in Benue State is therefore NOT VIABLE, and WE REJECT THIS PROJECT IDEA WITH ALL LEGAL AND SPIRITUAL RESOURCES. Our land is not for sale and has never been on sale. There is no land in Benue State for commercial ranching. Our ancestral homes are not bargaining chips. Our people must return home. Benue must not be enslaved through policy. There will be no surrender of our ancestral heritage in whatever form or guise being proposed or presented.”

The NCDPA called on the Federal Government to respect the constitutional rights of Benue people and to engage the State Government, traditional and community leaders transparently.

It demanded that displaced persons be enabled to return safely and take possession of their ancestral lands “before any other discussions about the already existed designated ranching structures in some parts of the state and country.”

The rejection adds to growing opposition in Benue to the federal pilot ranching programme, with stakeholders insisting that security, resettlement and respect for the state’s 2017 anti-open grazing law must come first.

By Isa Abdul, Abuja

18,510 Nigerian trained artisans under the first batch of the Renewed Hope Vocational and Skills Training Programme, an initiative of the National Social Investment Programme Agency, have received the Federal Government starter packs. This is aimed at equipping them with the tools needed to start businesses and become self-reliant.

The beneficiaries, selected from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, underwent two weeks of intensive vocational training at more than 230 accredited centres across the country.

At the closing ceremony of the programme in Abuja on Wednesday, the National Programme Manager, N-POWER, Dr Nsikak Okon, said that the Federal Government deployed GPS technology and a dedicated monitoring system to track beneficiaries to ensure that the starter packs were properly utilised.

The agency had created a portal to enroll and monitor beneficiaries’ locations, he said. A call centre had also been established, he added, to provide support and address challenges. In his words:

“We are using technology. We have already opened a portal where all the beneficiaries, the participants are enrolled inside that portal. We know their locations, we track them. It is a system that we have put mechanically that we have to know exactly the location that you are.

“We are using GPS to ensure that every participant we track and ensure that you have been very useful to the programme. We have a Call Centre. These Call Centre Agents are the ones that will be interacting with the beneficiaries to ensure that they don’t have challenges. If there is any challenge that they have witnessed along the line, then we have put in a mechanism to mitigate such challenges.”

The monitoring mechanism is intended to promote transparency in the distribution of the starter packs, adding that beneficiaries could access details of the equipment assigned to them through the portal.

“Nothing is hidden, everything is in the portal. We have opened the portal and you see what is in your starter pack. If you have any deficiency or any defects in the starter pack, you call our call centre.

“We have sent messages to all the 230 training centres. If there is an issue with the starter pack that we have given to the beneficiaries, reach out back to us so that we now know how to work against such issues,” he said.

The beneficiaries were trained in a range of vocational trades, including automobile technology, agricultural technology, baking and confectionery, carpentry and furniture making, cooking and catering, electrical installation, housekeeping and hospitality, jewellery and bead making, masonry, plumbing, welding and fabrication.

Fashion design and sewing, grinding machine operation, vulcanising and tyre services, were also involved.

Each trainee received N60,000 as transport allowance for the two-week training period, Okon said.

“Government has been so magnanimous looking at the transport. They have been so overstretched for these two weeks because they have to be in the training centre from morning till about 5 o’clock. The transport N60,000 transport fare is meant to enable them to move from the training centre to their own destinations,” he added.

The NSIPA National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer, Badamasi Lawal, described the completion of the training as a major step towards restoring productive assets and expanding economic opportunities for vulnerable Nigerians.

According to Lawal, much of the equipment being distributed had being in storage for more than five years before the Federal Government decided to recover, refurbish and deploy them:

“These items have been lying for over five years. But today, over 18,000 Nigerians across 36 states, and FCT Abuja have been well trained for two weeks.

“We have beneficiaries who are giving these items for job creation. And again, this is in line with the President’s agenda. It fosters and helps social intervention, which are meant for this essential development.”

He noted that the training went beyond technical skills, as beneficiaries were also exposed to entrepreneurship development, financial literacy, business planning, customer relations and enterprise management.

He maintained that the broader objective was to ensure that beneficiaries not only acquire vocational skills but also developed the capacity to establish and sustain their viable businesses.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Bernard Doro, said the programme was part of the Federal Government’s strategy to move beneficiaries from temporary relief to sustainable livelihoods.

Doro said the initiative represents a shift in the government’s approach to poverty reduction:

“This is a deliberate path to move people beyond short-term relief and invest in people’s productive capacity so that citizens can live prosperous, dignified lives on their own terms. This ceremony sits at the heart of a bigger shift in our ministry’s work.

“We call it the One Humanitarian, One Poverty Response system. Our guiding philosophy is simple: from palliatives to pathways.

“Under One Humanitarian, One Poverty Response system, every Nigerian identified on our National Social Register sits on a pathway from registration to skills acquisition, to productive assets to enterprise and ultimately to graduation out of poverty altogether. What you are receiving today is that pathway made feasible, training completed, tools in hand, and business ahead of you.”

The minister welcomed the decision to recover, refurbish and give out the vocational equipment that had remained unused in warehouses for years.

“I must also commend the Federal Government’s decision to recover, refurbish, and deploy vocational equipment that have sat warehoused across the country for years. Rather than let public assets decay, we restore them and place them in the hands of Nigerians who will use them to build businesses and create jobs.

“And also, to ensure sound stewardship of public resources, working also for our people, you have been trained in tricks that respond directly to what our local economies need,” he stated.

Doro congratulated the beneficiaries and urged them to make productive use of the skills and equipment provided to them.

He noted that the programme gave more than certificates, but practical skills and equipment that could immediately support income-generating activities.

“You are not leaving with a certificate alone, you are leaving with a trade in your hands and the equipment to put it to work immediately.

“On behalf of the Federal Government, every beneficiary in this hall and those joining us from across the country, your discipline in completing this training, often under real hardship, tells us something important: Nigeria’s greatest resource is not beneath our soil. It is in our people,” he added.

The Renewed Hope Vocational and Skills Training Programme forms part of the federal government’s broader social investment and poverty-reduction efforts, with emphasis on skills development, access to productive assets and support for small-scale enterprise.

By Felix Umande

Hon. Arc. Dr. Asema Achado, Member of the House of Representatives for Gwer East/Gwer West Federal Constituency, has rejected the Federal Government’s proposed pilot National Ranching Programme in Benue State, urging the state government and citizens to resist any arrangement that undermines the state’s Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law, 2017.

The Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Maiha, had announced that Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Adamawa and the Federal Capital Territory were selected for the pilot phase, with rollout already commencing at the Wase Grazing Reserve in Plateau State.

In a statement on Wednesday, Achado said while ranching remains a viable and modern approach to livestock production, Benue already has a comprehensive legal framework that must be respected.

“Any federal intervention must respect the constitutional powers of the state and the provisions of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law, 2017,” he said.

He noted that the law was enacted to protect lives and property, promote peaceful coexistence, safeguard agricultural production and encourage modern livestock management. It prohibits open grazing and uncontrolled movement of livestock while providing for the establishment and regulation of ranches.

Citing the Land Use Act, 1978, and the 1999 Constitution, Achado said land management is vested in the Governor as trustee, and states have legislative competence on agriculture and land use under Part II of the Second Schedule, particularly items 17, 18 and 20.

He therefore urged Governor Hyacinth Alia to “firmly protect Benue’s land, agricultural interests and existing legal regime,” stressing that “no ranching initiative should become a disguised mechanism for the acquisition or occupation of ancestral lands.”

The lawmaker recalled that previous attempts to introduce similar schemes, including the RUGA initiative under the former administration, were strongly rejected by Benue people over concerns of land ownership, security and the protection of farming communities.

He also cited the May 2025 positions of the Tiv and Idoma Traditional Councils calling for the removal of armed herders from the state and the protection of farming activities, warning that insecurity in Benue directly threatens food production and national food security.

Achado further referenced judicial pronouncements, including Attorney-General of Benue State & Anor v. Attorney-General of the Federation & 2 Ors (FHC/MKD/CS/56/2019), as affirming the validity of the state’s anti-open grazing legislation.

While rejecting the pilot as currently conceived, Achado acknowledged that the 2017 law could be strengthened. He proposed amendments to address gaps such as longer and clearer ranching lease provisions, financial and infrastructural support for low-capital livestock farmers, livestock identification and tracking mechanisms, and broader stakeholder consultation.

He called on the Benue State Government to engage the Federal Government on a law-based partnership to support implementation of the state’s existing ranching framework, and to deploy federal security agencies to support enforcement pending the establishment of a State Police structure.

“I reaffirm my commitment to protecting the constitutional rights, security, land and agricultural interests of the people of Benue State, while supporting sustainable and peaceful livestock production that respects the law of the State and promotes peaceful coexistence,” Achado said.