Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State who had a meeting with some ministers on tuesday has insisted that ranching rather than colonies was the sustainable solution to the menace.

The governor who rejected the suggestion for ‘cattle colonies’ proposed by the central government, said: “I am waiting to be briefed ‎about what colonies mean. I don’t understand and know nothing about it” he said.

He supported the setting up of a military base to checkmate the activities of marauding herders in the state “Anything ‎that can stop the killing of my people I will go for it. Any policy or directive that will help stop the killing of these innocent will be supported”

The governor made his position known while speaking to State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Ortom further dismissed the claim by the chairman of the state chapter of Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Garos Gololo that the killings were in retaliation to the alleged rustling of 1,000 cows by some people in the state.

Meanwhile the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, on Monday, disclosed that everything had been put in place by the Federal Government to establish cattle colonies as parts of efforts to address crisis.