Far beyond the nationwide furore that greeted the increased fuel pump price and electricity tariff last week, a forthcoming Executive Water Resources Bill, already within the precincts of the national assembly would likely cause more disaffection if it is allowed to be passed into law.
Speaking to his disturbed constituents recently on this matter, during the official inauguration of projects in Katsina-Ala, former Governor Gabriel Suswam has debunked rumours that a certain water resources bill intended to cede all national waterways to the Fulani for cattle grazing was being discussed at the national assembly.
Describing the bill as anti-people, Senator Suswam assured his people that such a bill, coming in whatever guise, would be dead on arrival. He further argued that the extant Land Use Act of 1978 states that all land belongs to the state government alone, and for the federal government to introduce such a bill would require an amendment of the constitution. To that extent therefore, ‘we cannot sit down as representatives of the people and accept that the federal government should come and take over the waters of our state’.
Ventilating on the same issue, another Elder statesman and former senator, Anietie Okon, has warned that Nigeria would be doomed if the National Assembly passes the water resources bill into law. He said, “Buhari is trying to get the bill by stealth and that is the lowest form this government can fall to. This clearly shows the lack of empathy for the people other than the president’s own people. When you claim a river, you claim it’s banks because that is the most fertile portion in the country.
This move is nothing but a backdoor approach to RUGA, and it will die as RUGA did. It is a law of impunity that has to be stopped. Every member of the National Assembly therefore has it as a duty to stop the looming conflagration that would follow this bill, if passed”
By John Daniel Obioma.