By Chioma Onuegbu

Uyo —THE apex socio-cultural organisation of the South-South geopolitical zone, Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, has urged the Federal Government not to force the controversial National Water Resources Bill down the throats of Nigerians.

National Chairman of PANDEF, Senator Emmanuel Essien, wondered why the Federal Government had decided to reintroduce the bill, even after citizens had rejected it about two times now.

Essien spoke while reacting to a recent statement by the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, that some people were deliberately misleading other Nigerians because they failed to understand the provisions of the bill, which is in the interest of the citizenry.

Adamu had said during a briefing last week: “People ignorantly  say what they don’t know about the bill. We cannot just keep quiet while the Nigerian citizenry is being fed with false narratives about what we are trying to do.”

But reacting, PANDEF Chairman noted that it was the Federal Government that was trying to mislead the citizens because people, who had read the provisions of the bill, have come to understand that it was another way of reintroducing RUGA through the back door. 

His words: “How can the Federal Government want to own all the waterways? Once the Federal Government has taken over the waterways, it includes the associated lands around that stream, river, ocean. They are trying to take away the powers of the states in respect to land.

“The implication is that everything concerning waters will now belong to the Federal Government. If that happens, the Land Use Act will be affected.

“It means that a governor of a state will not have right or responsibility as it affects land in the area, because the Federal Government will say it is the owner, and all the banks of rivers will be turned to RUGA settlement.

“So, it is another way of trying to reintroduce RUGA through the back door. Therefore, it must be resisted. I was a Deputy Chief Whip in the Senate and I have read through the bill. I understand the process of lawmaking and the wordings of every law that is made. 

“Well, it is unfortunate that the current government does not recognise the feelings of the people. They have pushed the bill two times before and the people have rejected it two times now. If you are pushing it again, it means you want to force it down the throats of people. 

“Before people rejected the bill initially, they had their reasons for rejecting it. It is a bill that has to be rejected, and we are rejecting in its totality. If they bring it 10 times, it should be rejected 10 times, if they bring it 100 times, it must be rejected 100 times.”