PDP Candidate Rejects Federal Government’s Pilot Ranching Plan for Benue State

A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the Benue State House of Assembly in the 2027 elections, Bemgba Iortyom, has rejected the Federal Government’s plan to include the state in a pilot ranching scheme intended to curb ongoing farmer-herder conflicts.

In a statement issued in Makurdi, Iortyom urged the Federal Government to refrain from using public funds to finance private enterprises. He argued that livestock farming is a commercial venture and that herders should acquire land legally and fund their own ranching infrastructure, just as crop farmers and other business owners do.

The former PDP state publicity secretary questioned the balance of the policy, noting that the proposed intervention appears focused entirely on herders while neglecting affected agricultural communities. He raised concerns over the lack of compensation for decades of destruction suffered by farmers, as well as the absence of farming representatives, local traditional institutions, and landowning communities at the negotiating table.

Drawing parallels to previous initiatives under former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration such as grazing routes, cattle colonies, RUGA settlements, and the National Livestock Transformation Plan Iortyom noted that similar proposals were previously rejected by the residents of Benue.

He maintained that modernizing the livestock sector should involve guiding private operators to acquire land lawfully through standard channels, rather than allocating ancestral land to establish government-backed settlements.