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Tag: National Water Resources Bill

  • SPECIAL REPORT: 86% Nigerians lack access to clean water as FG’s push for Water Resources bill meets resistance

    SPECIAL REPORT: 86% Nigerians lack access to clean water as FG’s push for Water Resources bill meets resistance

    The reintroduced National Water Resources bill which seeks to provide for the equitable and sustainable development, management, use and conservation of Nigeria’s inter-state surface water and groundwater resources, has remained a subject of controversy among stakeholders.

    Just like the 2020 version, the bill sponsored by House of Representative member Sada Soli, vests the control of ground and surface water in the hands of the federal government and proposes to make it mandatory for one to obtain a license before using water that is considered public for domestic or commercial purposes.

    Some lawmakers in the green chambers raised objections to the bill when it was reintroduced at plenary on July 29, saying it was not different from the version rejected by the 8th Assembly, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila, directed the chairman of committee on rules and business Abubakar Fulata, to make copies of the bill available to lawmakers to study before further deliberation.

    Clause 10 (1) of the bill stipulates that, “it shall be the duty of the minister to promote the protection, use, development, conservation, and management of inter-state water resources throughout Nigeria and to ensure the effective exercise of powers and performance of duties by institutions and persons identified under this bill and in the constitution.

    It further states in Clause 10 (2 and 3) that “the minister shall have the power to make regulations, policies and strategies for the proper carrying out of the provisions of this bill and…shall have and exercise reasonable powers as are necessary and required in furtherance of the duties and functions conferred pursuant to this bill, the directives of the President, or any other law.”

    Meanwhile, according to UNICEF, sustainable and equitable access to safe drinking water remains a challenge in Nigeria, with over 86 per cent of Nigerians lacking access to a safely managed drinking water source.

    Only 30 per cent of the population in Nigeria’s north are said to have access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.This contributes to high prevalence of waterborne diseases and a threat to the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

    Access to clean, portable water is also now viewed as an equality issue as in most cases, women and girls have the responsibility of fetching water and are disproportionately affected by poor sanitation and hygiene facilities.

    Controversies and rejection of the bill

    In a communiqué signed by the Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman of the Nigerian Governor’s Forum Kayode Fayemi, the 36 state governors unanimously rejected the National Water Resources bill which they say is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and does not adequately address the interests of the states, calling for a review of the bill.

    Similarly, a communiqué issued at the end of the colloquium of the Indigenous Peoples within Nigeria hosted by the Malcolm Omirhobo Foundation on 23rd September, described the bill as “illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional”.

    It noted that the Land Use Act was promulgated to give the state governors absolute power over land within their states and this position cannot be taken away via the National Water Resources bill, or through any other bill.

    “If the National Water Resources Bill is passed into law, it will give Federal Government exclusive dominance and control on waterways which will further impoverish Nigerians in riverine states who depend on waterways to generate revenue internally,” the communiqué read in part.

    It also urged the Nigerian Government to immediately dredge the River Niger and Oguta lake to be navigable and reopen, activate and develop the Warri, Calabar, Koko, Onne and Port Harcourt sea ports, to create jobs and promote socio-economic activities in the country.

    No going back on National Water Resources bill – FG

    The Nigerian Government has insisted there is no going back on its plans to amalgamate already existing Water Resources laws for the development and management of the country’s water resources, through the controversial bill.

    Minister of Water Resources Suleiman Adamu, said in a recent interview that there was nothing unusual about the bill which seeks the overall benefit of all Nigerians, including those vehemently opposed to it.

    “If states like Kebbi, where River Niger comes in, or Adamawa where River Benue flows in decide that they want to control the water at that point, what will happen to the downstream communities?

    “That is why, since independence, our constitution has made it that the water that flows across interstate or inter-regional boundaries as it were at that time, the responsibility for that should be vested in the federal government,” Adamu said.

    The Minister explained that the National Water Resources bill, takes into account the rights of citizens to access safe water and basic sanitation, as well as meet the basic human needs of present and future generations and reducing poverty.

    Global best practice in water management

    The Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach has been accepted internationally as the way forward for efficient, equitable and sustainable development and management of the world’s limited water resources and for coping with conflicting demands.

    The United Nations notes that in many regions, the availability of water in both quantity and quality is being severely affected by climate variability and climate change, causing demand to outstrip supply and advises that the traditional fragmented approach to the management of water resources was no longer viable and a more holistic approach was required.

    “Water is a key driver of economic and social development while it also has a basic function in maintaining the integrity of the natural environment. However, water is only one of a number of vital natural resources and it is imperative that water issues are not considered in isolation.

    Managers, whether in the government or private sectors, have to make difficult decisions on water allocation. More and more they have to apportion diminishing supplies between ever-increasing demands,” according to a UN report.

     

  • Afenifere kicks against reintroduction of National Water Resources Bill

    Afenifere kicks against reintroduction of National Water Resources Bill

    The pan-Yoruba Socio-cultural association, Afenifere, Ondo State chapter, has urged the National Assembly to reject the National Water Resources Bill, which was represented on June 29.

    The bill was presented for first reading by the Chairman of the House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli.

    The bill, which was introduced and rejected by the lawmakers during the 8th Assembly following public outcry, was reintroduced in the current 9th National Assembly in 2020 but faced adverse reaction from Nigerians, forcing the National Assembly to step it down.

    Afenifere, in a statement issued at the end of its Caucus meeting on Friday in Akure by Mr Remi Olayiwola, the Publicity Secretary, said the reintroduction of the bill was an insult to Nigerians from all the geopolitical divide.

    The association urged all the traditional rulers and political leaders from the state to work relentlessly against the bill.

    “For the umpteenth time, a bill tagged the National Water Resources Bill, seeking to take over all inter-state rivers, and hydrological territory in all parts of the country has been tabled before the House of Representatives.

    “Here is a Bill that had on two occasions in the 8th and 9th Assemblies failed to stand the test of time.

    “Why should there be the desperation to bring the same Bill back to the House? It is simply another unholy way to enslave the people of this country,” Afenifere stated.

    On the implication of the Water Resources Bill on the people, the association noted that states of the federation stand the risk of losing their identities and rights to the Federal Government.

    According to the association, while majority of the people are requesting for more decentralisation of government, the bill is seeking for more responsibilities for the Federal Government.

    Afenifere noted that the National Water Resources Bill would have negative consequences and was a “cunny actions being cleverly foisted on the nation, which must be resisted by well-meaning Nigerians.”

    It stated that if the Federal Government had embarked on restructuring of the country as being canvassed by the leadership of Afenifere over the years, the re-introduction of Water bill would not have been necessar

  • Buhari’s ‘failed’ government conniving with NASS to revive rejected Water Resources Bill – Soyinka

    Buhari’s ‘failed’ government conniving with NASS to revive rejected Water Resources Bill – Soyinka

    …Says FG will soon add rain to Exclusive List

    …condemns DSS attacks, killing of IPOB members

    Nobel laureate and elder statesman, Prof. Wole Soyinka has berated the President Muhammadu Buhari led Federal Government and National Assembly for returning a rejected bill, the National Water Resources Bill for reconsideration and possible passage to law.

    According to reports, the House of Representatives on July 23, 2020, referred the National Water Resources Bill 2020 to a “committee of the whole,” for third reading and passage. The bill was widely rejected in 2018 when it became public knowledge.

    Soyinka, in a statement on Thursday titled, ‘MLK’s mighty stream of righteousness,’ kicked against the return of the bill and the killing of some members of the Indigenous People of Biafra by officials of the Department of State Services in Enugu on Sunday.

    He said, “A roundly condemned project blasted out of sight by public outrage one or two years ago, is being exhumed and sneaked back into service by none other than a failed government, and with the consent of a body of people, supposedly elected to serve as custodians of the rights, freedoms and existential exigencies of millions. This bill – Bill on National Water resources 2020 – is designed to hand Aso Rock absolute control over the nation’s entire water resources, both over and underground.

    “The basic facilitator of human existence, water – forget for now all about streams of righteousness! – is to become exclusive to one centralised authority. It will be doled out, allocated through power directives from a desensitised rockery that cannot even boast of the water divining wand of the prophet Moses. If the current presiding genius–and this applies equally to all his predecessors without exception – had a structured vision of Nigerian basic entitlements, Nigerians would by now, be able to boast the means of fulfilling even that minimalist item of COVID-19 protocols that call for washing one’s hands under running water! As for potable water, for drinking and cooking, let us not even begin to address such extra-terrestrial undertaking!

    “What next for the exclusive list? The rains? I declare myself in full agreement with virtually every pronouncement of alarm, outrage, opprobrium and repudiation that has been heaped upon this bill and its parentage, both at its first outing and since this recent re-emergence. It is time to move beyond denunciations however and embark on practical responses for its formal deactivation and permanent internment. Let all retain in their minds that, from the same source that preached the “streams of righteousness” is encountered the promise of “no more floods, the fire next time.”

    Dwelling on the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement provoked by the racial killing of a black man by a United States cop and Martin Luther King’s speech to discard racism, the elder statesman noted that in the past few days he mulled over the watershed episode and was compelled to rephrase: Do Nigerian lives matter? Do farmers’ lives matter? Do IPOB lives matter? Do innocent lives matter? And most disturbingly: Do future lives matter?

    He added, “One passage in Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” has leapt to the forefront as a warning that relates to that final interrogatory – do future lives matter ? And it does so in a most literal manner, one that MLK could never have envisioned! It persists in echoing through the mind, reinforced by the recent killings of innocent humanity – mostly youths — in Enugu, by state forces, under the pretext – shall we presume? – of preventing secessionist agitations?

    The Nobel laureate further said the promulgators of the obscenity, high and low, should understand that the placid waters they think to control unjustly and grotesquely, would turn to be Martin Luther King’s “mighty stream of righteousness” that would overwhelm and sweep them off their complacent, and increasingly loathsome sectarian and conspiratorial heights.

    He said, “One polluted stream of human existence compounds the next. A violation here joins forces with its tributary of resentment there yonder, all seemingly unconnected. Martin Luther King’s streams of righteousness turn into a mighty torrent of repulse that overwhelms the perpetrators but, alas, takes down much else as collateral, irreparable damage. That is the only cause for regret and – restraint. Hence our duty to position that anguished question frontally, and call the world to witness our open propagation of that challenge: Do future lives matter?

    “Let Buhari and his myrmidons ponder that question in the deepest recesses of their hearts and minds. They should not bequeath to future generations the harvest of the grapes of wrath!”