Governors of the 36 states of the federal republic have joined other interest groups in opposing the controversial National Water Resources Bill 2022, reintroduced in the House of Representatives.
The state’s chief executives reached this resolution at the end of the 5th teleconference meeting of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, (NGF).
The NGF in a communique signed by Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti state and chairman of the forum said their decision is based on the fact that the proposed legislation is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Part of the communique’reads: “On the Reintroduction of the National Water Resources Bill, Governors argued that the Bill does not adequately address the interests of the states and is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The Bill according to the Forum should be reviewed with a view to accommodating the concerns of all states.”
The water resources bill which failed to sail through in 7th and 8th as well as the current 9th Assembly was reintroduced last month and like before, it has been generating negative reactions from some lawmakers and other stakeholders.
The initial bill had sought to transfer the control of water resources from the states to the federal government, which state governors and other stakeholders rejected.
Also, the current bill, parts of which was sighted by BusinessDay concentrate the ownership of ground and surface water in the hands of the federal government.
Clause 2 (1) of the supposed revised legislation states that: “The right to the use, management and control of all surface water and ground water affecting more than one State pursuant to item 64 of the Exclusive Legislative List in Part 1 of the Second Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, and as set out in the First Schedule to this Bill is vested in the Government of the Federation to be exercised in accordance with the provisions of this bill.”
It provides that: “States may make provisions for the use, management and control of water resources occurring solely within the boundaries of the state in line with regulations and guidelines made pursuant to this Bill on policy and principles of Integrated Water Resources management.”
Right from the day of its reintroduction, the bill has been greeted with stiff opposition.
When the new bill sponsored by Sada Soli (APC, Katsina) was read for first time, Mark Gbillah (PDP, Benue) raised a point of order, reminding the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila that the legislation had generated a lot of controversies previously and should not be brought back.
Gbillah said: “We wonder why this issue is still being represented on the floor of the House. Some of us are not comfortable, nor in support of this bill.”
A group, Corporate Accountability & Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), described the so-called revised version of the bill as exactly the same bill that was roundly rejected by Nigerians and interest groups.
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Akinbode Oluwafemi, CAPPA executive director in a statement said the reintroduction of the bill is an insult to Nigerians from all the geopolitical divide, including socio-political groups that have kicked against it from the beginning because of its many anti-people provisions and the ulterior motive of its promoters.
He said: “it is distasteful that the promoters of the Bill did not consider any of the objections by Nigerians about the draft Bill but only moved them to other sections with the intent to deceive Nigerians”.
Oluwafemi explained that a clause-by-clause analysis of the re-presented Bill conducted by CAPPA showed that regardless of the ‘’re-packaging’’ and re-arrangement of its sections and a few expungements, the Bill still fails woefully to meet up with the obligation of integrating the tenets of Human Right to water and sanitation.
“For instance, although ‘promoting public private partnerships in delivery of water services’ has been expunged from the Objectives of the Bill under Part 1- Sec 1 (1)(i), the same provision is still retained in Section 13(1)(n) of the Bill.”
Samuel Ortom, the Benue state governor described the bill as another form of Ruga and said would not be acceptable to the people of Benue State.
He said: “We will resist the reintroduction of the Water Resources Bill. The Federal Government should concentrate and manage the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, because even if other states accept it, Benue State would not support it.
“It is an evil bill by the federal government to take over the river banks and allow herdsmen from other parts of Africa to take over the Benue Valley.
Also, a Niger-Delta-based group, Centre for Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Crusade, CHURAC, cautioned that the controversial National Water Resources bill reintroduced in the House of Representatives, would trigger militancy in the Niger Delta.
CHURAC, in a statement by Alaowei Cleric, the chairman, board of directors, said: “The nation was awakened with consternation that the National Water Resources Bill 2020 has been reintroduced at the lower house of the National Assembly by Hon. Sada Soli.
“We are quite aware that the National Water Resources Bill was first introduced into the National Assembly in 2017 by President Muhammadu Buhari and passed by the lower House but the Senate failed to concur.
“The bill was again reintroduced in the 9th House of Representatives by the same Sada Soli in July 2020. However, the proposed inimical legislation again suffered a setback.
“Just the way we have been opposing the passage of the obnoxious and draconian bill from inception, there is no doubt that if passed into law, communities and people living along waterfronts in the country, particularly in the Niger Delta region, Lagos state and other aquatic areas in the country, will be deprived of their major source of livelihood which is fishing.”
The House planned to begin debate on the general principles of the bill and passage through second reading when it resumed from its annual leave in Separate this year.
