The Federal RUGA Scheme was introduced against the backdrop of the incessant attacks and clashes between herders and farmers arising from incursion of free-roaming cattle into private properties and farmlands. The RUGA scheme was introduced to permanently settle herders and their families in built colonies on compulsorily acquired state lands across the country so that cattle could be ranched closer to the end-users in each state. The scheme was vehemently opposed and rejected. Instead, state actors enacted anti-open grazing bills into laws which in turn was denounced by herders leaving the power play and politics to continue in a pragmatic search for a lasting solution to the crisis between herders and farmers in Nigeria. This work examines socio-legal reasons for the suspension of the scheme and explores the efficiency of the anti-open grazing laws as well as the legality and viability of the scheme's replacement with the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP).