The Federal Government cannot force any state to surrender its land for the controversial Ruga settlements project, the Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Ekiti Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, stated on Saturday.
Fayemi, while responding to an inquiry, explained that no state could be forced to surrender land within its jurisdiction for the Ruga project and as such there was no cause for alarm.
“I don’t believe any state is under threat of its land being taken over for this purpose. Governors have exclusive preserve over the land within their states jurisdiction. This is a storm in a teacup”, the governor said.
He added that the Ruga initiative had nothing to do with the NGF, stressing that issues surrounding land use were at the discretion of respective governors.
“The so-called Ruga initiative has nothing to do with NGF. We have never discussed this and none of my colleagues has raised the matter in my period in office”, the governor added.
