Dortimi Kester Tawari, a legal practitioner and president, Ijaw Community Law Centre, has called on the people of the Niger Delta region to rise up in against the National Water Bill being reintroduced into the National Assembly.
Tawari made the call at a public lecture on the National Water Resources Bill, which was organised by the Edo State council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Benin City.
The legal practitioner, who said that the bill is anti-federalism, noted that if passed into law by the National Assembly, it will amount to the re-colonization of not only the Niger Delta region but other regions.
“RUGA and cattle colonies have failed, and now they are coming up with a National Water Bill to take over the water resources of the people.
“The bill is anti-federalism. It takes away your land and water resources. It will kill us if we allow it”, he said.
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He also opined that the amendment of the water bill was tantamount to amending the Nigeria Constitution through the back door.
Earlier, Festus Alenkhe, the state NUJ chairman, said the public lecture was aimed at giving an insight into the contents of the bill in order to be properly informed and be guided on the implications of the bill to Nigerian society.
Alenkhe added that it was targeted at journalists, media owners and other stakeholders of the bill in the state with emphasis on the merit and demerit when passed into law.
In his remarks, Tony Osauzo, the Edo State Correspondent of the Sun Newspaper called for the engagement of lawmakers in the state houses of assembly and lawmakers in the National Assembly for the enlightenment of constituents on the merit and demerit of the bill.
He also called for the engagement of traditional rulers and leaders of thought in different ethnic nationalities to stand up against the bill.
