The Nobel laureate, Prof.. Cole Soyinka, has said that no society should value cattle above human lives.
He said this on Tuesday when commenting on the controversial RUGA cattle settlements that the Federal Government has just introduced.
According to him, RUGA is an explosive issue that should be handled with care.
He said, ordinarily, cattle business ought to be a simple one that should not cause disquiet.
But he lamented that, in Nigeria, the matter had been unduly complicated as its handlers had failed to adopt successful models.
Soyinka said, “There is the need to adopt models used by countries who have successfully used them. There is nothing strange about cattle rearing. Why should cattle become a problem because we like beef?”
Soyinka lamented that many herders had turned crimes into a vogue.
He said they killed with impunity while authorities who were supposed to act looked the other way.
He stressed that it was curious that it was in the midst of the crises that RUGA popped up.
He said ranches should be built based on environmental congeniality, but in a way that should not inflict tragedy on people.
Soyinka said, “There cannot be any society where cattle take priority over human beings.”
