From
Admin desk
The Universal Reformed Christian Church, NKST, has opposed the Federal Governmentโs plan to use Benue State as a test site for its proposed ranching programme.
In a statement signed by the General Secretary of its Synod Executive Committee, Rev. Ta Targba, the church said government should first focus on returning displaced persons to their homes before rolling out any ranching project.
NKST said it is not against peaceful livestock farming or efforts to resolve the farmer-herder crisis. However, it argued that picking Benue as a pilot state is unacceptable given the scale of killings and destruction recorded in the state.
According to the church, 5,987 of its members have been killed and 753 worship centres destroyed in attacks blamed on armed herdsmen across Benue and neighbouring states.
Targba said thousands of residents remain displaced and unable to return to their ancestral lands, making resettlement a more pressing priority.
โBenue is not just land for government experimentation. It is an agrarian society. Its land is the ancestral inheritance, economic base and source of livelihood for millions,โ he said.
He added that generations of Benue people have farmed their land and built homes, schools, hospitals, markets, and churches on it. Any policy involving land acquisition or conversion, he noted, must respect ancestral rights, property rights, and constitutional provisions of host communities.
The cleric questioned why a state that has suffered mass displacement due to violence should now be used for a pilot on livestock-based land use.
โWhy should a state whose people have suffered displacement and destruction because of violent conflict now be selected as a laboratory for a policy involving land allocation for the same livestock economy that has been at the centre of these conflicts? The people of Benue deserve to be heard,โ Targba stated.
NKST called on the federal government to make the restoration and resettlement of displaced communities the basis of any agricultural intervention in Benue.
It also demanded improved security to enable safe and voluntary return, and support to rebuild homes, schools, health centres, markets, roads, water facilities, and churches destroyed in the attacks.
The church further urged government to carry out a full assessment of public and faith-based institutions destroyed, and insisted that no ranch should be sited on land belonging to communities that were violently displaced.
