A legal practitioner and President, Ijaw Community Law Centre, Dotimi Tawari, has urged the National Assembly to throw the controversial Water Resources Bill recently re-introduced into the dust-bin, arguing that if they let go, it will deny Nigerians of their identities and ‘kill’ them.
Tawari’s said rather than concentrating on true federalism, the Bill is anti-federal but unitary, adding that if passed into law, it will take Nigerians back to the old days of unitary system of government where everything is concentrated at the centre (Federal Government)
The lawyer and environmental rights activist who made these assertions in Benin city, where he enlightened journalists on what the Bill entails, said Water Resources Bill is an indirect way of introducing Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) and Cattle Colony.
According to him, when passed into law, the Act will automatically incorporate the Land Use Act of 1978, and that every land owned by communities and state governments would be ceded to the Federal Government.
He reads the Bill in part: “The Delta of River Niger, and everything therein belongs to the Federal Government.
“This is an indirect way of re-introducing RUGA, the cattle colony thing, this is it. When they brought RUGA, it died, when they brought cattle colony thing, it died, this is the last thing they want to do.”
“Section 158 reads: Any natural or man-made water, flowing or standing on the surface of the land, including rivers, lakes, reservoirs, lagoons, wetland, creeks, Deltas, etc belongs to the Federal Government. Everything is gone.”
According to him, asserted is because of the interior motive behind the Bill, it was sneaked into the National Assembly through back door and was not make public until some members including the Speaker of the House of Representatives insisted that it should be made public.
“They are amending the Nigerian constitution without us knowing. This is because by extension, the Land Use Act of 1978 is incorporated into this Bill.” he posited.
The environmental rights activist stated that, if Nigerians allow the Bill to see the light of the day “it will be more powerful than your state government; it is like creating another country entirely inside a country.”
He equally urged media practitioners to rise to their social responsibility of enlightening members of the public on the ills of the Bill.
He stressed: “And that is why we say members of the press must rise to this responsibility. Your constitutional role is to be a watch dog, so make sure this bill does not see the light of the day. Because if it does, we lost our identities completely.”
On his part, Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Edo State council, Comrade Festus Alenkhe, urged the legal practitioner to take the enlightenment to other NUJ state councils in the South-South and South-East with a view to opening journalists’ eyes to the proposed Bill so they too can in return enlighten members of the public.
While thanking the environmental rights activist for the enlightenment, the Chairman appealed to his colleagues to give publicise to the Bill with a view for Nigerians to knowing much about it and taking the necessary steps.
