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Buhari Releases N24bn To Katsina, Three Others For Ranching

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President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release of N24 billion to his home state of Katsina and three states for cattle ranching.

In an interview on Channels Television on Wednesday, Presidential Spokesman, Garba Shehu, stated that other states that have received the funds are Yobe, Ebonyi, and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Shehu revealed that the four states received N6 billion each, adding that eight other states will also receive theirs as soon as their applications have been processed.

According to the presidential aide, any state that is interested and meets the requirement will get the same fund from the Federal Government.

He said: “Yes, Katsina has been given money, but Katsina has not been the only one given. So far, about 24 billion has been issued to four states on ranching and associated activities.”

“Yobe has been given, Ebonyi, and FCT has been given. More than 12 states are now being processed for these payments. We have heard all this nonsense being said by lawyers who ordinarily should be respected – accusing the president… the president cannot be nepotistic, he cannot descend so slow to do what others before him have done.

“He is a fair and just leader, the fact that Katsina got money, one of two of these states got their own before Katsina but it is because they did not go to town with it, that is why the people are calling out the president and the governor of Benue is saying all these trash against him.

“It’s a process and the state governors are lining up. You present criteria, you get funded. If you want justice for yourself, do justice to other people as well.”

Meanwhile, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has said the north-central state would not give up any of its land for the establishment of any grazing reserves.

Naija News reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had on Thursday approved the review of 368 grazing routes across 25 states, though these states were not mentioned.

He approved the recommendations of a committee to review “with dispatch,” 368 grazing sites, across 25 states in the country, “to determine the levels of encroachment.”

Reacting in a statement on Friday made available to newsmen by his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Slade, Ortom pointed out that there is a law in the state that prohibits open grazing.

While insisting that there is no land for grazing reserves in the state, he said President Buhari should be ready to kill people of the state before he can foist his grazing policy on them.

Ige Olugbenga is a fine-grained journalist. He loves the smell of a good lead and has a penchant for finding out something nobody else knows.