More Condemnation Trails Reintroduction Of Water Resources Bill At NASS

The United Indigenous People of Africa (UNIPA), a global self-determination group for indigenous nationalities on the continent, has faulted the newly re-introduced Water Resources Bill, seeking to place all resources accrued through water on the surface or in the ground under the control of the Federal Government.
The Co-Convener of the group, Ms Jean May, in an electronic statement she sent from New York, and obtained by our correspondent, described the Bill as a mockery of the country’s already quasi-federal principles, an attack on universal federalism, and an exhibition of wickedness on the part of the Nigerian government. The UNIPA has chapters in 28 African countries and United Kingdom, and also has its headquarters in the United States of America.
According to her, the bill would further weaken the states and local government areas of Nigeria that have purportedly gone bankrupt due to usurpation of their functions by the Federal Government, if it becomes law. The moves by the central government to take over the control of all water banks, including its streams and all resources therein, she said, is an attempt to completely take over assets of the already oppressed indigenous people in the country.
The statement read in part: “We have studied the Water Resources Bill and we found no sense in it. Our Country Representative in Nigeria reported that this is a facade and a complete hijack of the assets of indigenous people, especially, in the South and Middle-Belt parts of the country.
“For the sake of ordinary people, who may not understand the danger ahead, the implications of the Water Resources Bill is that Osun-Osogbo River, Erin-Ijesha Water Fall, Asejire Water and others, which are tourist sites that generate millions of naira monthly to Osun State Government will now be administered by the Central Government. Specifically, It means that the administration of Osun-Osogbo Festival will now be determined by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources in Abuja.
“The Implication of the Water Resources Bill is that the administration and control of Ipole/Iloro Water Fall, Ikogosi Warms Spring, Ado-Ekiti Water Works, Ero River, Ogidigbi Stream, Iyemero Water, all in Ekiti State now belong to the Central Government of Nigeria.
“The Central Government of Nigeria already hijacked the resources of the states and local government areas by pocketing 53 per cent of the entire revenue accrued to the Federation Account. Now, the same government is extending its penchant for asset grabbing by attempting to hijack, for instance, Oguta Lake from the people of Oguta in Imo State, Awhum Waterfall and Cave from the people of Amaugwe village of Awhum town in Enugu State, Enemabia Warm Spring from the people of Benue State, Agbokim Waterfalls from the government of Cross Rivers State, among others.”
In the very analytical statement, UNIPA stated further that by placing the management and control of all river banks under the control of the Nigerian Government, the state governments of Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Delta, Bayelsa, Akwa-Ibom, Rivers and Cross-Rivers can no longer collect revenue from anyone or corporate entities doing businesses at the bank of Atlantic Coastal Lines, neither can the Lagos State Waterways Agency operate its Boat Services at the Bank of Lagos Lagoon without the express approval of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources in Abuja.
“For the fact that the Water Resources Bill places both surface and underground water resources under the administration of the Central Government, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources now controls the boreholes in the homes of ordinary people, who have no access to pipe-borne water.
“Water is very much in the South and Middle-Belt Parts of Nigeria unlike in the North Western and Eastern Nigeria. Knowing the antecedent of the Nigerian Government, we view this bill with suspicion and concluded that it is part of the agenda by some oligarchies in the country to extend their hegemony and control over the South and Middle-Belt People of Nigeria.
“Nigeria claims to be a Federation but it is simply a Unitary State in practice with 75 per cent of the federation resources and owners concentrated in the hands of the central government, including sharing functions like conduct of marriage, management of primary health centre and primary education, and so on with states and local councils.
“The new bill, if it succeeds, will further make a mockery of the country’s federal structure, hijack more revenues from the smallest federating units and make the indigenous people poorer and wallow in more squalor than they are at the moment with poverty at a world topping 100 million people.
“Our message to the indigenous people, especially, in the South and Middle-Belt of Nigeria is to rise up, unite, and curtail this anti-people bill from seeing the light of the day. They should vigorously engage all their political representatives, especially those in the National Assembly and the governors, to demand that this bill is killed once and for all and never introduced again. We are willing to assist all self-determination activists in Nigeria to ensure that the obnoxious Water Resources Bill does not see the light of the day by all lawful means necessary.”