Nigeria Water bill 2022

 

For the third time, the water bill has yet again resurfaced to be discussed by the national assembly after a lot of tweaking.

Major nationality groups in the country has shown their dissatisfaction with the federal government against this bill. The bill had earlier aimed at transferring the control of water resources across the country to the affairs of the federal government.  As citizens are clamouring for the devolution of power from the centre, the centre is looking for ways to grab more power from its states and citizens and use this opportunity to provide settlements for a minority nationality in the country.

 

You can find the document here.

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Think Yoruba First Group press release

Think Yoruba First worldwide condemns the ‘National Water Resources bill’. As indigenes of
Yorubaland, we and our generations unborn will be affected by this bill as it is a sinister plot to gradually take away our rights completely and serves to worsen the already terrible state of security and welfare in the Yorubaland parts of Nigeria and indeed all of Nigeria.
We recall that the controversial bill was introduced in the 8th National Assembly, and caused a lot of rancor between 2017 and 2020. It has now been reintroduced to the National Assembly giving every well-meaning and peace-loving citizen further reason to distrust the minds behind this bill. The bill aims to confer ownership, control and management of surface and underground waters on the Federal Government. This would limit people’s current access to water. It would also mean that the price of water for any use will increase drastically.

We would like to remind that the Federal Government has the FCT and under the principles ofFederalism especially in a diverse country like Nigeria, it is only advisable for the Federal
Government to focus on the waters in the FCT and leave the states alone. A case study of
South-Eastern Australia and Cape Town South Africa for example, where indigenous people live and colonialists invaded the territories, grabbing lands, water, and at last freedom from them serves to alert us to the dangers of non-native ownership and management of land and water.

Water is not only a physical substance; it is also an intrinsic part of peoples’ identity and cultural perception. Water for the Yoruba people constitutes a source of livelihood through fishing in our coastal communities; Osun River, Yewa River, Oba River, Ikogosi, Eerin ijesa, among others are sacred waters that are paramount in the lives of the Yoruba and are beyond what the federal government would try to grab. Water is life to the Yoruba people and taking away ownership of our waters to a government that doesn’t understand or operate under our cultural ideology is an attack on the Yoruba people and must be resisted.

May Olodumare continue to bless the entire Yoruba Nation.

For more information see

https://guardian.ng/opinion/again-the-obnoxious-water-bill-2022