Governor Samuel Ortom òf Benue State has once again restated the opposition of majority of Nigerians to the proposed Water Resources Bill. The controversial bill again found its way into the House of Representatives late last month, after at least two failed attempts to pass it into law. It was first introduced by the Muhammadu Buhari administration in 2017. It was passed by the House of Representatives but roundly rejected by Nigerians. It resurfaced in 2020 when it was surreptitiously brought to the National Assembly. Again, it was dead on arrival because Nigerians rose against what they saw as a ploy by the Federal Government to take land vested in state governments for pastoralists through the back door.
Governor Ortom said: “Let me say emphatically that there will be no Water Resources Bill in Benue State; we will resist it if other states encourage it.”
Governor Ortom was reacting to the latest attempt to get the bill passed in the National Assembly by the same person who has been championing its cause, the chairman of the House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli. Soli said the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), as well as commissioners for justice and attorneys-general of the 36 states of the federation had been consulted and the opinions received from them would be attached to the bill and distributed to all members. He said he would voluntarily withdraw the bill whenever there is indication that it will negatively affect any section of the country.
Governor Ortom is not alone in rejecting the obnoxious bill. NLC’s President Ayuba Wabba had warned in 2020 when the bill was again sneaked into the National Assembly that: “We equally warn against legislative abuse or betrayal of Nigerians as this is what it will amount to if the bill is passed or caused to be passed without public engagement and scrutiny.”
The labour union’s warning came just as Nigeria’s Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, criticised the attempt to “sneak” the bill into law.
Civil society groups across the country have also criticised the bill, saying it would breach citizens’ right to water. Niger-Delta-based group, Centre for Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Crusade, CHURAC, for instance, also cautioned that the controversial National Water Resources Bill 2020, would trigger militancy in the Niger Delta.
Nigeria has several daunting challenges in the energy and power sectors as well as security problems. The agricultural sector is crying for attention even as students in our public universities have been out of school for months without sincere steps taken to return them to school. The health sector is in crisis. Indeed, the country, as things stand, is virtually on crutches, with the economy in a shambles.
Nigerians are wondering why Water Resources Bill has to become a do-or-die affair. As a matter of fact, the way the Federal Government has been going about the bill is enough to fuel ingrained federal suspicions about the real motive for the controversial bill.
Controversial parts of the law include the part that vests ownership of water bodies on the federal government and the part that mandates citizens to get federal permission to drill bore holes in their homes or businesses despite the inability of the government to provide potable water to majority of its citizens.