The ‘Planned’ Re-Introduction of National Water Resources Bill

By Jerome-Mario Utomi
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Jerome-Mario Utomi

It is a common knowledge that the Ijaw Youths Council recently issued a release which among other remarks stated that; if the government should reintroduce what they referred to as inimical and controversial water Resources Bill which was formally stepped down by the 8th Assembly after much public outcry; that Southern Nigeria people will do everything lawful to resist the passage of that inimical Bill which tends to colonise them; adding that this should not be another petroleum laws that have denied the Niger Delta people from controlling the petroleum resources in our land; And warned that that bill if passed is capable of causing a civil war in the country.

Clearly, some may characterize this fresh threat as a familiar music hall firm, however, to others, it`rings apprehension that the nation is having on its hands a situation that unless we repurpose our priority may constrain the nation’s key resource, affects a wide swath of people; depress the economy, and adversely the socioeconomic well being of the nation.

As a background, the Bill which emanated from the Executive arm and, among other things seek: to establish a regulatory framework for the water resources sector in Nigeria, provide for the equitable and sustainable development management, use and conservation of Nigeria’s surface water, groundwater resources and for related matters.

From the above explanation evolves the most telling evidence about the bill’s good intention which is signposted in the Federal Government’s resolve to promote judicious management of the nation’s water resources in addition to the possibility of the bill if passed, acting as an enabler to the nation’s attainment/achievement of the orchestrated Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) as preached by the United Nations (UN).

But despite ‘these virtues and attributes, the worries expressed by the Ijaws and other residents of the region can neither be described as unfounded nor unique as there are visible ingrain challenges/consequences arising from its nature, impact, and strategy- a feat that has since mirrored the entire document (bill) as a body without a soul.

Going by the content of the bill, it is easy to situate without labour that the greatest ill associated with it lies in its tendency to dissenfranchising, and separating Nigerians from ancestral ownership of their water rights and handover some to a set of federal technocrats by confusing Nigerians with the fallacy that ‘’ownership rights to water’ is the same as water use rights.’’

Also working against the bill is the accompanying belief by Nigerians with critical interest is that the urge to have the bill passed is driven not by love for having the nation’s water resources judiciously managed or for the nation to develop agriculturally as claimed by the lawmakers, but by sectional and parochial interests such that some pro bill senators in the outgone 8th Assembly used barefaced inaccuracies to mislead the Senate and drum up support for the bill.

For example, it has been claimed on the floor of the outgone 8th Assembly Senate that the World Bank is waiting on passage of the bill into law to “grant” trillions of naira to develop Nigeria’s irrigation infrastructure. This cannot be further from the truth. The World Bank would never and cannot ask a nation to dispossess her citizens of their inherited and cultural rights to water as a condition for granting loans.

Another obstacle that confirms the bill as plagued however seems not to raise so much dust but could be costly in economic and political terms if ignored, is the asymmetrical support structure given to the bill. It is barefaced that virtually all the senators (in the outgone 8th Assembly) that queued behind the bill were from water-poor states and regions that stand to gain from the passage of the bill when passed.

Interpretatively, this loopsided support given to the bill looking at commentaries was fuelled not by the burning desire for the public good but for sectional gain. Glaringly as it stands, this trend no doubt has become a pernicious problem embedded in our administrative culture that will be too difficult to eradicate. And has also necessitated the question as to how the nation can redistribute lands from land-rich states to land-poor states since the bill if passed as it is without amendment could conceivably make inter-basin transfers of water to be undertaken by the Federal Government without consent from or even consultation from indigenous communities…exactly like crude oil and associated problems of mean, wicked and evil inequities.

The bill in the writer’s views has justified the fears by Nigerians with discerning minds that the Federal Government by this move to acquire more power may not be interested in the devolution of power as currently demanded by Nigerians or maybe paying lip service to the imperativeness and urgency of having this country restructured. Accordingly, the whole argument by the FG becomes even vaguer variable and ungraspable when one remembers that some of these items will be better handled and serves the greater good to the greater number of the people if left in the hands of the state, the local government or private owners.

From what Nigerians are saying, what has caused serious concern is that it was a similar Decree 101 of 1992 which is now incongruously dressed up as an act of the National Assembly (Water Resource Act Cap W2 LFN 2OO4) that robbed every Nigerian of their water rights as it was hurriedly signed into law by the then military Ibrahim Babangida as his parting gift to Nigerians.

Lamentably, this and other sordid laws from the Federal Government in the past has particularly left the Niger Delta/coastal regions in social difficulties with no good record for survival as their environment is daily devastated/destroyed, with their teaming youths unemployed while the communities are periodically dispersed by the flood.

Allowing this bill signed into law, will not only usher in a code that is out of harmony with moral laws but set the table to truncate the nascent peace currently enjoyed in the region while ushering in another round of hostility as the people are committed to peace by any means necessary but may not be committed to becoming the victims of peace. To succeed in this assignment, the Federal Government must, therefore, be holistic in approach and practice ‘deliberative democracy. This will entail halting the ongoing plan (if any) in order to pave way for other stakeholders such as the Civil Society groups, Water experts as well as the southern states to fully make their inputs.

On their part, the lawmakers should remember that they are primarily representing their constituents at the two Chambers, and should, therefore, make laws that are people-purposed and also with a human face.

Utomi, Writes from Lagos via; [email protected]

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