Taraba governor denies donating land for grazing reserves

The Federal Government’s dream of getting some state governors in the north to set aside some portions of land for grazing reserves may turn out to be a mirage in Taraba State as Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku, has exempted himself from such a project.

Reacting to a recent newspaper publication (not The Guardian) that 11 states in the northern part of the country have each donated 55,000 hectares of land for the implementation of the programme for grazing reserves, Governor Ishaku, said the state has not at any time donated any portion of its land for the said programme.

The governor who made this known yesterday through his Senior Special Adviser on Media Matters, Sylvanus Y. Giwa, said: “Taraba State government wishes to state that in as much as we appreciate the need for the creation of conducive environment for all categories of agricultural and pastoral activities, there is the need for proper collaboration between states and Federal Government.”

The said statement which was credited to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbe, named Adamawa, Gombe, Plateau, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Taraba, Niger, Sokoto, Jigawa and the Federal Capital Territory as the states that have signified their interest to make available to the federal government 55,000 hectares of land each for the programme.

Sad by the development, the governor said: “there has been no discussion between the state government and officials of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development regarding giving out land for grazing reserves.”

Wondering why the state is been dragged into an issue that it has not been informed of, the governor admonished the people of the state to go back to bed with their two eyes tenaciously closed as the state according to him has not entered into an agreement with the said ministry for the allocation of such hectares of land.

According to him “the state government is therefore not aware of any decision to donate 55,000 hectares of land to the Federal Government for grazing reserves in the state.”