By Seun Adams
Human Rights Lawyer, who is also the Executive Director, Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights (CASER), Mr. Frank Tietie,
has called for resistance against the pending National Water Resource Bill 2020, presently being proposed by the Federal Government.
The proposed bill, according to him, is indeed going too far and must be resisted, stressing that it should be dropped forthwith.
In a statement made available to SHARPEDGENews Online, he averred that Section 2 of the Bill vests use, management and control of all surface water and groundwater in the federal government, provided such water affects more than one state as contemplated by Item 64 of the Exclusive Legislative List in Part 1 of the Schedule to the Nigerian Constitution.
While underscoring the negative impact the Bill will unleash on the people if eventually passed into law. he said: “I leave the implications of such control to your imagination, given the history of crude oil management by the same Federal Government. This will form the subject of another of my writing and focussed advocacy subject to resources.
‘’In this new era where the calls for restructuring are loudest and the Federal Government is being told to divest itself of needless control of legislative items so that Nigeria can indeed develop as a true federation, where the peoples of states can harness their resources for their peculiar development, it is therefore unthinkable and in fact amounts to direct provocation for the Federal Government to aspire to control local water resources to the extent of having to travel to Abuja for example, to obtain a license from the Federal Government just to drill a borehole.’’ He said.
According to him, water may appear cheap and everywhere in Nigeria thus, it can easily be overlooked. But that is not true, adding that water is more important than crude oil in too many ways. We can do without oil. After all, it has been more of a curse to us in Nigeria, he argued.
Lamenting the exploration of crude oil as being a curse, he added: “Just see how crude oil has fueled corruption, underdevelopment and bred trouble wherever it was found. Unlike crude oil, we can’t do without water and the troubles associated with water conflicts will make those associated with crude oil look like child’s play.
”Note that the rivers and creeks which criss-cross all of the states of the Niger Delta region are all connected. It is these that the Federal Government now aims to control by the pending bill. It is not only control of surface water but groundwater inclusive, that the Federal Government now aims to control.”
According to him, it is understandable that the Petroleum Act was enacted by the military and it was during the civil war so there were no many opportunities or none for that matter, that afforded the people of the Niger Delta the right to accept or reject the highly consequential provisions of the then intended law to govern petroleum resources management and control.
This time around, he advocated that it should be different, as every Nigerian and particularly people and groups from the Niger Delta area must read all sections of the intended law and consider them against the backdrop of the past, present and future of the country with that of the Niger Delta region.
”I have therefore undertaken to send copies of the bill to anyone upon request.” Tietie, said.
According to him, when an unjust law is passed, it is very difficult to reverse its negative effects, stressing that when the people of the Niger Delta realized the inequities against them and how oppressed they are by the legal regime of the Petroleum Act, they turned to militancy as a means of liberation but it failed them, as they are still in the same place as things never changed and their future fortunes are uncertain.
He said: ”Even political palliatives in the forms of 13% Derivation money, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (MINDA) and Amnesty Programme have left the region still highly underdeveloped relative to where it ought to have been.
”Instead, willing collaborators from the Niger Delta have turned these political interventions by the Federal Government into cesspools of mind-boggling corruption and the people of the region will continue to suffer.”
By the implications of the intended law, he said the federal government can also grant control of riverine areas to persons and companies of its choice to conduct livestock business irrespective of the sensitivities and concerns of the people of the region.