By Fatima Saka
The Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) has rejected the reintroduced ‘National Water Resources Bill 2022’.
The Union which is affiliated with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and organised workers in the public sector, made this known in a statement issued on Thursday, signed by its General Secretary Sikiru Waheed, asking the National Assembly (NASS) to discard the Bill due to its anti-people posture
Waheed recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari Administration first sent the proposed bill to the National Assembly as an Executive Bill on April 11, 2017, barely two (2) years into the first tenure of the Administration.
According to Waheed, the Bill which sparked outrage amongst Nigerians who saw it as a plot to grab the waterways and other Natural Resources, was thrown out by the 8th Assembly. The Bill was reintroduced into the 9th Assembly on Tuesday, 7 July 2020, by Hon. Sada Soli from Katsina State and was reconsidered on 23rd July 2020 pursuant to Order Twelve (12), Rule 18 of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives, but was again thrown out for its obnoxious, suspicious, and anti-people posture.
The same Bill that was rejected by this same 9th Assembly, Waheed said, was reintroduced on the floor of the House of Representatives for the third time on Wednesday, 29th June, 2022 by the Chairman House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli from Katsina State.
Waheed therefore feared that if the Bill is passed into law, the rights of citizens over freshwater resources – ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, dams, boreholes, and spring water will be eroded and taken away completely. He called on for a rejection of the anti-people Bill
He said, “The Union queries the desperation of the initiators of the Bill and wonders why a Bill that was rejected twice by the National Assembly was still reintroduced for possible passenger into law.
“The Bill seeks to bring all Water sources (surface and underground) as well as river banks, river basins, adjacent marine land and coastal environment among others under the control of the Federal Government which is grossly at variance with the land use Act, 1978 which vest all lands in a State in the hands of the Governor of that State to hold in trust for the use of all the citizens of the State.
“The Union wishes to alert all Nigerians that if the Bill is passed into law, the rights of citizens over freshwater resources – ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, dams, boreholes, and spring water will be eroded and taken away completely. It will deny state and local Government authorities as well as individuals the right to make use of water in their backyard until they get permission from Abuja.
“The Union calls on State Governments and indeed all Nigerians to rise and resist this anti-people Bill and further calls on the National Assembly to once again discard the Bill in the interest of all the Nigerian people they represent.”