Tag: Water Resources Bill

Urhobo Renaissance rejects FG’s acidic Water Resources Bill in its entirety

…asks NASS to rise above ethnic prejudice by throwing out this divisive bill

…call on all Urhobo reps in NASS, sons and daughters across N/Delta to snub bill

The Urhobo Renaissance Society, URS has rejected the proposed Water Resources Bill largely described in many as an acidic bill that will further divide Nigeria if not dropped by the National Assembly.

TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports this was contained in a statement issued and co-signed by President of the group, Prof Hope Eghagha and its General Secretary, Dr John Uwa.

The group without equivocation stated that: “Sadly it is our view that the bill if passed into law, will not in any way be in our interest as people, but would further fertilise more grounds for mutual suspicions, conflicts and disunity to sprout.

“While we are intending to trust the Federal Government to do the right thing in the overall interest and unity of Nigeria, it is our considered view that the move to take over our territorial waters and rivers through some legislation smuggled through the back door into our constitution will further dent the reputation of the Federal Government as one with ethnic leanings.

“Such a bill will not only become a recipe for national disintegration and tension but will all provide a legitimised template for ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’; and also portraying the Federal Government as either playing an ethnic card or trying to fan the embers of ethnic superiority, prejudice, and violent conflict.

“We would like to dissuade the Federal Government from pursuing this divisive bill by reminding it of violent conflicts resulting from provocative claims of waterways across the world; the multiple water dispute in Iran and Afghanistan, Pakistan’s tireless fight with India over the Indus river, the perennial threat of Fulani herdsmen to take over our waterways and farmland by killing our farmers and fishermen are all good reason to justify our fears and rejection of this obnoxious National Water Resources Bill.

“Therefore, after extensive study of the situation, and due consultations with our people, we the members of Urhobo Renaissance Society (URS), the entire Urhobo Nation, and the good people of Delta State make the following pronouncement:
1. We consider the bill as divisive and designed to empower a section of the country over our people in our land; therefore, we reject the Bill in its entirety;

2. We call on the State Government to rise to its responsibilities as enshrined in the state laws to protect to territorial integrity and waters of Delta State;

3. We call on the Federal Government to prove its neutrality by withdrawing the bill forthwith;

4. We call on the State Government, Traditional Rulers and other stakeholders for good and responsible governance in Nigeria to reject the divisive bill;

5. We call on all Urhobo Representatives, all Delta State Representatives, and indeed all Representatives of Niger Delta extraction in the National Assembly to reject the bill in unambiguous terms;

Read full release below:

URHOBO RENAISSANCE SOCIETY (URS)
(EGBA R’OKUGBE)

PRESS RELEASE

URHOBO RENAISSANCE SOCIETY (URS) REJECTS THE PROPOSED NATIONAL WATER RESOURCES BILL BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA

Our attention has been drawn to the proposed National Water Resources Bill presented before the National Assembly by the Federal Government, proposing to make all the territorial and inland waters of the nation the property of the Federal Government when passed into law. Unfortunately, we are surprised that anyone would be proposing such an obnoxious bill at a time when oil-producing states are agitating and contesting the ownership claim of our God-given oil by the Federal Government. Even more disturbing is the fact that the bill is coming at a time when the country is threading a fragile ethnoreligious path beclouded by mutual suspicions. As a riverine ethnic nationality, whose commercial life is prominently defined by aquatic life and activities, we have had to look, very deeply, at the bill and its deeper implication for both our existence as a people and its effects on our continuous allegiance to the Federal Republic of

Nigeria. Sadly it is our view that the bill if passed into law, will not in any way be in our interest as people, but would further fertilise more grounds for mutual suspicions, conflicts and disunity to sprout. While we are intending to trust the Federal Government to do the right thing in the overall interest and unity of Nigeria, it is our considered view that the move to take over our territorial waters and rivers through some legislation smuggled through the back door into our constitution will further dent the reputation of the Federal Government as one with ethnic leanings. Such a bill will not only become a recipe for national disintegration and tension but will all provide a legitimised template for ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’; and also portraying the Federal Government as either playing an ethnic card or trying to fan the embers of ethnic superiority, prejudice, and violent conflict.

We would like to dissuade the Federal Government from pursuing this divisive bill by reminding it of violent conflicts resulting from provocative claims of waterways across the world; the multiple water dispute in Iran and Afghanistan, Pakistan’s tireless fight with India over the Indus river, the perennial threat of Fulani herdsmen to take over our waterways and farmland by killing our farmers and fishermen are all good reason to justify our fears and rejection of this obnoxious National Water Resources Bill.

Therefore, after extensive study of the situation, and due consultations with our people, we the members of Urhobo Renaissance Society (URS), the entire Urhobo Nation, and the good people of Delta State make the following pronouncement:

1. We consider the bill as divisive and designed to empower a section of the country over our people in our land; therefore, we reject the Bill in its entirety;

2. We call on the State Government to rise to its responsibilities as enshrined in the state laws to protect to territorial integrity and waters of Delta State;

3. We call on the Federal Government to prove its neutrality by withdrawing the bill forthwith;

4. We call on the State Government, Traditional Rulers and other stakeholders for good and responsible governance in Nigeria to reject the divisive bill;

5. We call on all Urhobo Representatives, all Delta State Representatives, and indeed all Representatives of Niger Delta extraction in the National Assembly to reject the bill in unambiguous terms;

6. We call on the leadership of the National Assembly to rise above ethnic prejudice and provide quality leadership by throwing out this divisive bill

7. We call for a public hearing of the bill so that the people concerned can have a direct say in a matter that will affect their lives;

8. We reiterate and reaffirm that the bill if passed into law, will be met with stiff rejection and opposition in Urhobo land; because we are unwilling to give an inch of our ancestral land and its waters away for RUGA in the disguise of National Water Resources Bill.

Long Live Urhobo Renaissance Society
Long Live Delta State
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Signed
Prof. Hope Eghagha Dr John Uwa
(President) (Genera Secretary)

August 9, 2022
Northern Reps caucus denies impeachment move against Gbajabiamila

The Northern House of Representatives caucus has denied impeachment move against the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila over failure to support the controversial water resources bill.

Rep. Seriki Addah, the Chairman, the Northern Caucus, denied the move at plenary on Tuesday in Abuja, saying at no time did the caucus hold any meeting for impeachment of the speaker.

“This is a sad day and coming at a time we should be talking of how to unite this country and provide leadership, we are being dragged down by the agent of destabilisation.

“I say clearly that what has been published is malicious lies aimed at planting the seed of discord among Nigerians.”

Addah said that Gbajabiamila enjoyed the support of every lawmaker in the house, adding that his campaign to become speaker was hinged on, “nation building, a joint task”.

He said that the Speaker is from the South West and the person who contested against him was a northerner, but the northerners chose to support Gbajabiamila.

He said that the news was a disservice to the country and should be condemned, while urging the publisher to retract the publication and apologise to the north.

He said that the Northern caucus feels aggrieved and betrayed with the malicious publication.

The chairman said that the lawmakers were trying hard to build the nation, “Nigeria is Nigeria, we are one country and lawmakers operate as Nigerians; we don’t talk about tribe or religion.

The Deputy Speaker, Rep. Idris Wase, while refuting the report said that there was nothing like impeachment going on to the best of his knowledge, saying “I am a northerner”.

He pleaded with his colleagues to toe the line of what had been mentioned to trust one another, adding that members were working as a family.

He urged members not to be carried by emotions and sentiments towards dividing members.

“We remain the symbol of democracy in this country and in any nation the parliament is a symbol of democracy.

“Maybe because the speaker is away and they want to gang me up against my colleagues too and that is why they are planting this story.

“For me, I want to say we are one and we are one in terms of our activities. The matter is hereby referred to committee on ethics and privilege.

The Water Resources Bill is an executive bill that passed through third reading in the House of Reps during the 8th Assembly but was rejected by the Senate.

The bill was recommitted for consideration recently in the 9th Assembly and it raised a dust.

Rep. Sanda Soli, the Chairman, House Committee on Water Resources said that the bill was an executive bill, adding that it was not intended to generate any acrimony.

The Minority Leader of the House, Rep. Ndudi Elumelu, however queried why the house should be bothered about impeachment “when the country is bedevilled with insecurity?’’

Elumelu said what should concern the house was the lingering Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) strike, the kidnapped Abuja-Kaduna train victims among others.

He said that there was nothing like impeachment threat against the speaker, adding that the bill in question had not been brought for consideration and no plan to put it in the supplementary paper.

“Mine is to see how we can support the government in fighting insecurity. I want to assure Nigerians that the house is doing everything possible to support the government and get our children back to school.

Meanwhile, Gbajabiamila is currently attending a leadership course at Harvard University in the U.S.

July 26, 2022
PDP lawmakers kick as APC Rep reintroduces Water Resources Bill

The national water resources bill has passed first reading at the house of representatives.

The bill is sponsored by Sada Soli, an All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker from Katsina state.

The proposed law seeks to establish an act that would provide a regulatory framework for Nigeria’s water resources sector.

The bill dates back to the eighth national assembly when it was first sent to the parliament by the executive.

TheCable had reported how the bill was passed in 2020 by the green chamber but was later withdrawn following criticism that trailed the decision of the lower parliament.

At the time when the bill was passed by the house of representatives, it failed in the senate. Godswill Akpabio, the then senate minority leader, led opposition lawmakers to kick against the bill.

The bill had sought to bring water resources —both surface and underground — and the banks of the water sources “affecting more than one state”, under the control of the federal government.

FRESH OPPOSITION TO THE BILL

After the bill was read for the first time during plenary session on Wednesday, Mark Terseer Gbillah and John Dyegh — both Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers — kicked against the proposed legislation.

Gbillah, a lawmaker from Benue, raised a point of order questioning why the bill is being reintroduced.

“I am aware that the matter listed for first reading — the national water resources bill — generated a lot of controversy within this honourable house and even across the country and some of us wonder why this issue is still being represented on the floor of the house, because some of us are not comfortably in support of this bill in the first instance,” he said.

In response, Gbajabiamila said he raised the same question with Soli, chairman of the committee on water resources.

The speaker said he was informed that governors made input and that the concerns raised may have been addressed.

“I asked the chairman the same thing this morning and he told me that the issues of controversy that were raised then have been addressed by all the governors,” Gbajabiamila said.

“Apparently, it is a new bill that all the governors of the federation, both south and north, participated in this bill and I want to take him by his word.

“I believe that you raised a very cogent point. We live in a very diverse country and everybody’s sensitivity must be taken into consideration. It is subject to the participation of all the governors, because they govern their states they know what affects them and what doesn’t affect them.”

The speaker added that members of the house should be “extremely vigilant” on the debate regarding the bill when it comes up for second reading.

Visibly dissatisfied, Gbillah said the responsibility of lawmaking rests on lawmakers and not governors.

According to him, whatever the governors might have agreed upon may not be acceptable to lawmakers.

“It is we that have those powers, as enshrined in the constitution, to enact legislation that will be binding on this country,” he said.

Gbajabiamila said although he didn’t infer that governors should “dictate to us”, legislators work in a “symbiotic relationship with the CEOs of the states” who are sometimes, in a better position to know what is best for the states.

Dyegh from Benue, who also spoke, said the contributions of the governors are “irrelevant”.

“Governors are not legislators. They are not members of this parliament. Their contributions as far as this matter is concerned are irrelevant,” he said.
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But he was interrupted by Gbajabiamila who said he has already addressed the issue.

The speaker subsequently ruled that copies of the bill should be made available to lawmakers before the proposed legislation is presented for second reading.

In his remarks, Soli said governors, and state attorneys-general have contributed to the bill, adding that he will withdraw the proposed legislation if it is opposed by Nigerians.

“Let me assure my colleagues that the comments of the governors’ forum are attached to the bill and the comment of the attorney-general, which was requested by the federal ministry of water resources, are attached to the bill,” he said.

“All attorneys-general of different states and of the federation commented on the bill before they could address some of the issues that were raised on the floor.

“Let me assure my colleagues on my honour. I will not stand here to see a particular section of this country is shortchanged by the legislation of this country. If that happens, Mr Speaker, I will withdraw the bill in the interest of this country.”

June 30, 2022
Why the Water Resources Bill must be rejected, By Michael Owhoko, Ph.D

By Michael Owhoko, Ph.D

There are strong indications that the National Water Resources Bill 2020 will soon be reintroduced at the National Assembly. If passed into law, communities and people living along water fronts in the country, particularly Niger Delta Region, Lagos State and other aquatic areas in the country will be deprived of their major source of livelihood – fishing.

Besides, the 13 percent oil derivation fund from offshore fields accruing to littoral states may also be forfeited to the federal government. Over 80 percent of riverine communities play host to offshore acreages in the Niger Delta region.

The Bill aims at conferring ownership, control and management of surface and underground waters on the federal government. Implicitly, all waters in stream, lake, sea, river, underground (boreholes), river beds and banks found in and around any community in Nigeria becomes the exclusive preserve and property of the federal government, bringing water under the Exclusive Legislative List.

Therefore, it will become illegal for people living in the coastal areas to carry out fishing or use the river for any other purpose without authorization and permission of the federal government, the new owner of all water bodies in the country. Besides, no persons or companies will be allowed to discharge waste water in the river without authorization of the federal government. The process is to be managed by Nigeria Water Resources Regulatory Commission.

Part of the Commission’s responsibilities is to grant permission or licence to water users for a particular period of time upon payment of a fee. The Commission which has the power to renew, suspend or cancel any licence that has been issued, also has the obligation to determine the cost.

This means the poor riverine community dwellers must apply fora licence, pay the required cost and obtain approval before they can carry out commercial fishing activities or any other business in their own ancestral territorial waters.Any community that fails to meet these criteria will be penalized for illegal encroachment.

Besides,such riverine communities, particularly those without land mass who use the bank of the river for domestic activities like washing, and occasionally for other purposes, will pay for discharging waste into the river.

The flaws and toxicity of the Bill can further be viewed from its contravention of the Supreme Court cases affirming powers of state governments over inland waterways and physical planning, aside the Land Use Act which vests ownership of land on state governors. The Bill is an interloper designed to arrogate state powers.

From the content, it is obvious the Bill is evil, and men and women of good conscience with fear of God, must rally round to ensure it is rejected, otherwise, history will record them as accomplice to this wicked plan to deprive communities in the coastal areas of their territories, fishing business, and means of livelihood.

The river bank of a coastal community is an extension of its territory. In law, whoever owns the land, owns the resources therein, and this principle is supported by the Ad Coelum Doctrine.How do you expropriate the territory belonging to a riverine community and forcefully give it to a regulator, an outsider,for commercial purposes?

The occupation of the riverine communities is fishing, and this is what they know, and do for a living, either as subsistence or business. Through this means, they provide food, shelter, clothing, education, and other necessities of life for themselves and their dependents.

If the source of livelihood of these helpless coastal communities is taken away, what will they depend on as humans? It is absurd for government that has failed to provide for their welfare and security, will now use the law to dishonestly dispossess them of their territorial waters, and source of livelihood.Indeed, the Bill is a study in malevolence administration.

All through my adolescent years in Warri, I lived practically by the river where we carried out fishing exercise from where money was generated for upkeep. By this proposed Bill, what will millions of families in the riverine areas whose lives depend on fishing now do to survive?

God, in His infinite mercy knows why He provided a natural habitat for every community with means for survival. Those in the SahelRegion are known for raising livestock. Those in the Rain Forest are gifted for farming while those in the Coastal areas are noted for fishing. Every community is endowed, thus, to deprive the coastal communities of their trade is to undermine their existence and fundamental human rights. Water, like land, is God’s gift to man as part of his heritage. Depriving him will be tantamount to distorting celestial orchestration.

Government must get its priority right. A country that is faced with mounting misery index (inflation and unemployment), insecurity, corruption and capital flight, resulting in acute poverty and frustration, cannot be making water resources a priority. There are enough existing laws on water resources. The Water Resources Act, River Basin Development Authority Act, Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (Establishment) Act and the National Water Resources Institute Act are already in place.

A law that seeks to strip a people of their heritage, properties and sources of income with capacity to push them deeper into abyss of poverty cannot be said to be in the country’s national interest, except for reason covertly to advance the course of sectional interest.

Reintroducing a bill to the 9th National Assembly that was once rejected on national interest by the 8^thAssembly is suspect. Like the botched Rural Grazing Areas (RUGA) Bill, the desperate push for the passage of the Water Bill by vested interests in the core north is a snare to have a hold on the country’s water fronts across the country, particularly in the Niger Delta areas.

And thedrive behind the temerity andconfidence with which the purveyors of this Bill are callingfor its passage is anchored on their belief that they will have their way at the National Assembly due to the country’s demography and political delineation structure that are unjustly skewed in favour of the North.

Quest for sectional domination without consideration for equity and justice within the context of national interest, puts the unity of the country at risk, and pushes it to the brink. As equal stakeholders, it is imperative to respect the boundaries of one another as the absence of this will engender distrust and disunity.

The people of Niger Delta who play host to the largest bodies of water in the country, have suffered for too long, and do not deserve further oppressive policies. It is enough anguish to declare oil resources in the region as national assets, and gold otherwise, while the Niger Delta people alone bear the burden of hazardous effect of oil exploration and production.

It is enough anguish for the riverine oil communities to pay for fuel above pump price due to failure of Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) established to administer uniform fuel prices across the country to leave them out of their network, explaining why the person in Bodinga, Sokoto State, buys fuel cheaper than the person in Epebu, an oil producing settlement in Bayelsa State.

It is enough anguish living in dilapidated houses in the riverine oil communities engendered by poverty and impact of seismic blasting and corrosion arising from activities of oil exploration. Funding rehabilitation of infrastructure in the riverine oil communities by oil companies as currently being done for the North East Region will not be a bad idea. The oil companies, based on directive from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), currently make annual budget provision for funding of rehabilitation of schools, houses, hospitals and other infrastructure destroyed by Boko Haram in Borno State and other parts of the North East Region.

Rather than look for ways to ease the burden of the riverine oil areas and people living along water front, the government is sponsoring a Bill that will multiply their yoke. The Bill should be rejected, trashed and thrown out.

Dr. Mike Owhoko, journalist and author, is the publisher of Media Issues, an online newspaper based in Lagos.

September 23, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: Dangerous elements in NASS in vengeful mission to ‘kill’ PIB over Water Resources Bill

By Emman Ovuakporie

The Petroleum Industry Bill, otherwise known as PIB may be slaughtered by some lawmakers to avenge the manner the widely condemned Water Resources Bill was shabbily treated by Nigerian House of Representatives.

TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reliably gathered from multiple sources that the PIB unarguably the oldest bill in the Nigerian parliament may kiss the dust due to some interests tied to the manner the Water Resources Bill was silenced for now.

Recall that the controversial Water Resources Bill was silenced due to lack of adequate awareness campaign not that it was actually pretty bad.

While ruling on it, the speaker, Rep Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Lagos) had advised that it should be gazetted for now.

This development did not go down well with the progenitors of the bill who saw it as their birthright to ensure it sails through.

One of the sources privy to this development, a lawmaker from the North Central geo-political zone of Nigeria told TNG that: “What some of these lawmakers are not aware of is the fact that the new PIB wholly is in favour of a segment of the country.

“Their ignorance stinks to high heavens or how else do you explain why the first thing President Muhamnadu Buhari inserted in his 2016 Budget was N60 billion for oil exploration in the frontier states when oil exploration has not started.

“Those plotting to rubbish the bill have the numbers to rubbish it but they will be truncating the future of their generations yet unborn.

“And in this new PIB the frontier states are highly favoured so if these alleged dangerous elements among us decide to kill this new PIB who loses,” he wondered.

“Well the PIB is almost belated, if it was passed 20 years ago then maybe we would have all benefitted because today the value of crude oil is fast deteriorating.

“We are in a hurry to pass it now because it’s now favourable to this same elements who don’t know it’s favourable to them.

“By next week Tuesday, we will start debating PIB and the bowels of the bill will be properly and exhaustively examined for all Nigerians to see.

Another prominent lawmaker from the South South geo-political zone described the move of those who want the bill killed for lack of wisdom.

The ranking member apparently disturbed said: “well I just hope the Bill will not sink like it sunk in the previous assemblies.

“At the twilight of the sixth Assembly it died, at the twilight of the seventh Assembly we passed it but the Senate didn’t concur, at the twilight of the eighth Assembly it was almost a done deal, dangerous elements among us ‘killed’ it technically after it was rejected by Buhari.

“Now we are on it again I just hope it’s not another jamboree like the previous jamborees,” he added.

October 15, 2020
Reps bow to pressure, withdraw controversial Water Resources bill

The House of Representatives at its plenary on Tuesday withdrew the Water Resources Control Bill which it passed two months ago.

Sequel to the adoption of a Matter of Privilege raised by Rep. Benjamin Mzondu (PDP-Benue), the House unanimously resolved to gazette the bill for reconsideration.

Mzondu argued that the bill was not gazetted and that clear copies of the bill were not circulated to all members.

The lawmaker said that a 2020 bill should have passed first and second reading, be subjected to public hearing before its consideration at the Committee of the Whole and passed.

“My privilege has been breached because I was denied the opportunity of seeing the bill before it passed.

“The House Rules is clear and unambiguous, Order 12 Rule 16, 17 and 18 is expressly clear on the gazetting Bills.

“I therefore, move that the bill be completely expunged or be gazetted and subjected to public hearing,” he said.

In his contribution, Rep. Nkem Abonta (PDP-Abia), said that the procedure contradicted the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He argued that rule of the House was also breached in the way and manner it passed, saying that it should be withdrawn.

However, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Water, Rep. Sada Soli (APC-Katsina), said that the right process was followed before the bill was passed.

He said that clean copies of the bill were distributed to members who were at the plenary.

According to him, the bill is a consolidation of four laws which had existed for 35, 34, 27 and 10 years.

Also, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Rules and Business, Rep. Abubakar Fulata (APC-Jigawa), said that the bill was first read on Dec. 19, 2018 in the 8th Assembly.

He said that the bill was introduced by the Executives in the 9th Assembly and was subjected to the House rules.

The Deputy Speaker of the House, Rep. Idris Wase (APC-Plateau), recalled that the bill was stepped down when members complained that they had not seen the bill.

He said that the bill was returned and members were all given clean copies before it was considered at the Committee of the Whole.

In response, members of the House, however, shouted aloud in disagreement with the position that clean copies were circulated.

In his ruling, the Speaker of the House, Rep. Femi Gbajabimila, said that the bill be withdrawn and gazetted for fresh consideration.

The bill amongst other things seeks to provide for management, equitable and sustainable use of surface and underground water across the country.

The bill seeks to provide a legal framework for the management and use of water resources in the country with the view to generate revenue for government at all levels.

September 30, 2020
UNDEDSS vows to resist Water Resources Bill amendments

The United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy, UNDEDSS has vowed to resist the Federal Government’s move to amend the Water Resources Bill with every iota of its might.

This is coming barely 24 hours after the Minister of Communications and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed lampooned critics of the bill saying they are ill informed and insisting that the federal government will go ahead.

“This FGN must come to realise that no part of Nigeria is a conquered province, and that the erstwhile insults heaped on the Niger Delta must end forthwith!”, the Niger Delta coalition of action civil society declared in a statement issued by UNDEDSS Secretary General, Mr. Tony I Uranta.

“For too long our region has been the whipping boy of Nigeria”, the UNDEDSS statement reads, “Whenever any national leader wants to appear to be serious about the war against corruption, the focus is the Niger Delta, its governors et al. Then you will hear questions like, ‘What have you used the 13% derivative for?’ Nobody asks what has been derived from the 87% that goes to the rest of the country, even though over 95% of revenues come from our bastardized and despoliated waters and land! For example, recently the NDDC has come under unnecessarily excessive fire, not because its corruption is worse, but because everybody seeks to sweep under the carpet the comparatively obscenely humongous amounts being looted via the NNPC, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, the North East Development Commission, the CBN,the FIRS, to name a few MDAs being looted by parties close to Mr. President and the National Assembly Leadership!”

UNDEDSS continues, “We have said ad nauseam that we know that Niger Delta leaders are as corrupt as virtually all other leaders are, but that we expect that what is good for the goose that lays the golden eggs for all, must be good for the parasitic ganders that contribute next to nothing to the national GDP! Yet nobody listens to the region, not even our erstwhile friend the new Chief of Staff!”

“And, now, to rub insult into our injuries, the FGN thinks we shall let it take over our ancestral waters and lands”, asked a furious Uranta, “they may rig the NASS, but we shall call on every ally within and outside the country to resist these diabolical amendments! Many forget how far-reaching our tentacles really are, inside and outside Nigeriaand. May we never need to remind them.”

Mr. Uranta agonised that “Appointments are made onto bodies that exist ostensibly for the region’s good without inputs from our key political, traditional or socio-cultural leaders, and even the NDDC still has Board members who are not even remotely connected to the region. Yet, no Niger Deltan is on, say, the North East Development Commission NEDC Board, nor are strategically and adequately represented on the oil and gas bodies that owe more than 95% existence to the region! Enough is enough.”

UNDEDSS concluded by demanding that the FGN immediately implements the 16-point 2016 Agreement between it and the region as reached in several meetings between the President and both UNDEDSS and PANDEF, led by Uranta and Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark respectively. UNDEDSS warns that should the FGN not show a willingness, before the end of 14days from the date of this statement, to dynamically embrace the region, via its leaders, it shall withdraw from the unilateral ceasefire in the region, which it helped broker, and leave the FGN to get itself out of the morass that will ensue!

September 23, 2020
JUST IN: FG shuns critics, says no going back on Water Resources Bill

The Federal Government has declared it will go ahead with the Water Resources Bill.

Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed told reporters the bill was not designed to cause water wars in the country.

He said the bill is a panacea to likely water conflicts in the country.

He said critics of the bill have either not read it or might be mischievous.

He said there is no hidden agenda behind the bill.

He said it is not a subterfuge reintroduction of RUGA.

Mohammed made the clarifications at a joint briefing with the Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu in Abuja.

He said: “There is nothing new about the National Water Resources Bill. This is because it is an amalgamation of Water Resources Laws that have been in existence for a long time.

These are:

– Water Resources Act, Cap W2 LFN 2004

– The River Basin Development Authority Act, Cap R9 LFN 2004

– The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (Establishment) Act, Cap N1100A, LFN 2004

– National Water Resources Institute Act, Cap N83 LFN 2004

“So, why are the laws being re-packaged as the National Water Resources Bill 2020?

“The answer is that they are being re-enacted with necessary modifications to bring them in line with current global trends as well as best practices in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

“The overall objective of this amalgamation is the efficient management of the Water Resources Sector for the economic development of Nigeria and the well-being of its citizens.

“The Bill provides for professional and efficient management of all surface and ground water for the use of the people (i.e. for domestic and non-domestic use, irrigation, agricultural purposes, generation of hydro-electric energy, navigation, fisheries and recreation).

“The Bill will ensure that the nation’s water resources are protected, used, developed, conserved, managed and controlled in a sustainable manner for the benefit of all persons.

“Critics contend that the Bill is aimed at taking the resources of a certain part of the country for the use of herders. In other words, the Federal Government is seeking to implement RUGA by subterfuge.

“We also want to state that the Bill is for the good of the nation, and has no hidden agenda whatsoever.”

Adamu said the bill was sent to all the states for concurrence without any object.

He said the bill predated the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said:” This was never a Buhari bill, it is a bill for Nigeria. It started 2008 long before the President thought of winning election.”

September 22, 2020
The Water Resource Bill – Hope O’Rukevbe Eghagha

In our study of history and the rise and fall of empires, there are often remote and immediate causes to what ultimately befell those powerful kingdoms and empires of yore. Often, historians refer to both internal and external causes that finally brought a once-thriving kingdom to its knees. To be sure, power holders at the helm of affairs may not realize how debilitating their actions are or could be. In the case of dictators, they become their own undoing through acts of self-preservation at the expense of the state, the common good. Such men are dangerous to the corporate survival of the country. These thoughts came to my mind as I ruminated over the National Water Resources Bill which is on the verge of being rammed through a National Assembly that is severely compromised, sadly operating at the beck and call of the executive branch of government. By some strange irony, we now miss the 8^th Assembly which at that time some Nigerians thought was unduly combative to protect their own interest!

The nation, or a regional block of the nation, has virtually been on edge over the Water Resources Bill that invests on the federal government control over water resources in the entire geographical landscape of the federation. Among other provisions, the 55-page document states: “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 Executive Legislative list in Part 1 of the Second Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and as set out in Schedule 1 to this Act, together with the beds and banks thereof, is vested in the Government of the Federation to be exercised in accordance with the provisions of this Act”. It further states that “States may make provisions for the management, use and control of water sources occurring solely within the boundaries of the State but shall be guided by the policy and principles of the Federal Government in relation to Integrated Water Resources Management, and the Act”.

Now, what is the business of an insensitive and faraway federal government that sits in Abuja with the water in my hometown in Delta State? How efficient has the federal government been in managing resources of the country that it wants to arrogate more responsibilities to itself? How do the provisions of the bill cohere with federalist principles? In view of the widespread clamour for restructuring the country, how wise and sensible is it to introduce such an obnoxious bill now or at any other time? Do the sponsors of the bill recognise its contradictions with how we want to manage our political affairs? In the light of the failure of RUGA, is this not another attempt by a set of people in power to appropriate water as they have appropriate oil and gas? Why has the government allowed the mining of gold and other mineral resources without federal government control? Is the government bent on destroying whatever shred of national unity there is between the south and the north? What are the elected representatives of the southern States in the National Assembly doing to ensure that the bill is not passed? Are they playing the party loyalty game to the detriment of the lives and property of the people they represent? Why have they not followed the steps of the 8^thNational Assembly that threw out the bill as a piece of garbage from depraved land grabbers? Do they remember that someday they will return to their homeland now deprived of control over the power to sink a borehole without approval from Abuja?

This is a bill that must be shot down with the necessary mobilization. Indeed, all the Houses of Assembly in the States that object to the Water resource Bill should pass an objection to the unitary tendencies of a supposedly federal government. This is both political and economic. It is the style of a conquering power to strangulate the people of a conquered territory. Not even the British went this far to squeeze Nigerians in the days of colonialism. But we now have a federal government that cannot secure life and property, but it is more interested in seizing and grabbing natural resources in one section of the country. Governor Ortom of Benue State has been very vociferous in denouncing the bill, declaring loudly that he is prepared to go to court if by any means, fair or foul, the bill sails through the National Assembly for a presidential assent. Life in Nigeria is already difficult, made more difficult by the incompetence and uncaring attitude of the federal government. A government that has not been able to manage roads under its nose wants to manage water, above and underground! Who has cursed us with such warped thinking?

The National Assembly and the federal government, the voice of Jacob but the hand of Esau, should kill the bill immediately. Of course, they could resort to intimidation and bullying tactics on elected representatives, threatening them that they will not get a second term and ram the bill through. But ultimately, the will of the people shall triumph. Such practices and despotic behaviour are strengthening the case for returning to a weak centre and strong constituent parts. The impudence of this government and attempts to muzzle free expression are indications of desperation. This is not in consonance with the spirit and practice of democracy. The people should also realize their power. Public outcry will help our legislators in the National Assembly to reject the bill. As for that Majority Leader in the Senate who boasted that the bill must go through, we are not surprised. We know, understand the song which he is singing and who has paid for the tune. He must be seen to be loyal to the dark forces behind the bill.

Power is transient. Those who control the levers of power now and think that they can with a stroke of the pen alter the lives of Nigerians without their consent should remember what befell men of their ilk. What happens in the house of sheep, our elders say, happens in the house of goat!

September 14, 2020
Water Resources Bill won’t scale through Senate – Senators vow

Senators Tuesday vowed to reject a proposed Water Resources Bill when it is presented to the Senate.

The Bill which has already scaled first reading in the House of Representatives has continued to generate controversy.

There are however indications that the Bill would likely be presented to the Senate on resumption from their current break on September 15.

Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, told reporters in Abuja that even though the Bill is yet to surface on the floor of the Senate, it would not be allowed to see the light of day when it is eventually presented.

“We have not seen it in the Senate. When it comes we will reject as before,” Abaribe said in a terse text message in reply to an enquiry on the Bill by a reporter in Abuja.

On her part, Senator Biodun Olujimi, said Senators would not support any Bill that may be injurious to Nigerians.

Olujimi told reporters during an interview in Abuja that Senators would stand up against any legislation capable of disrupting the fragile peace in the country.

She said: “The truth is that I am not aware of that Bill at all. However, anything that will injure our people, some of us will never be part of it.

“We will speak up against it when the time comes because nobody would be allowed to injure our people.

“We will not allow any legislation to ruin the fragile peace that we have in this country.

“We will not allow our fragile peace to be destroyed as a result of any political, personal or ethno-religious reasons.

“We won’t allow it because we are one entity and we must fight for the people of Nigeria.

“The Bill which is currently being treated at the House of Representatives would require the concurrence of the Senate and when the time comes, we won’t let it just fly like that.”

September 1, 2020