The National Assembly members on Tuesday, rejected the controversial Water Resources Bill barely one week and two days after former Lagos state governors, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, took over as President of Nigeria.
The bill was lined up for concurrence in the order paper but was rejected by the majority of the senators.
There had been confrontation on the Bill between leaders from the South and others from the North over the Bill which some say was designed to annex water ways by the federal government and deny local communities the right to their natural endowments.
When the bill was read for concurrence on the floor of the Senate, Senator Gabriel Suswan from Benue North West, raised Order 85 of the Senate Rules which provides that Senators must have full details of the provisions of any bill coming for concurrence.
Senator James Manager from Delta South, who seconded Senator Suswan’s point of order, also stressed the need to have details of the bill since provision was made for only the title of bill.
The Senate President Ahmad Lawan, who later ruled in favour of the rule cited, adjourned the plenary for the day.
On its part, the House of Representatives had passed the bill in 2020 amidst suspicion by members and the general public that the proposal had sinister motives.
Before the passage, the chairman of the House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli, said the former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), as well as commissioners for justice and attorneys-general of the 36 states of the federation had been consulted and the opinions received would be attached to the bill and distributed to all members.
Also some groups, mainly from the South subsequently raised the alarm when the bill was to be taken for the first reading.
Former President, Muhammadu Buhari, had in 2017 presented the controversial bill to both chambers of the National Assembly, which seeks to transfer the control of water resources from the states to the federal government.
The legislation was titled, “A Bill for An Act to Establish a Regulatory Framework for the Water Resources Sector in Nigeria, Provide for the Equitable and Sustainable Redevelopment, Management, Use and Conservation of Nigeria’s Surface Water and Groundwater Resources and for Related Matters.”
The summary of the bill reads, “This Act repeals the Water Resources Act, Cap W2 LFN 2004; River Basin Development Act Cap R9 LFN 2004; Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (Establishment) Act, Cap N110A, LFN,2004; National Water Resources Institute Act Cap N83 LFN 2004; and establishes the National Council on Water Resources, Nigeria Water Resources Regulatory Commission, River Basin Development Authorities, Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, and the National Water Resources Institute.”
The proposed bodies, if established, will “provide for the regulation, equitable and sustainable development, management, use and conservation of Nigeria’s surface water and groundwater resources.”
The 8th House passed the bill but the controversy had frustrated passage of the bill by the Senate, as the Red Chamber on May 24, 2018, considered the executive bill for second reading, during which senators were divided across regional lines.
While Northern Senators had supported the proposal and its objectives, their Southern counterparts had opposed it.
Those opposed to the bill had pointed out that if passed into law, it would further centralise power and resources of the country.
This, they pointed out, would counter the move towards devolution of power domiciled with the federal government.
