National water resources bill : ‘A digitalised Ruga in disguise’, says rights activist 

 

National water resources bill : ‘A digitalised Ruga in disguise’, says rights activist

A human rights activist and author, Comrade Paul Ikechukwu Njoku, has cautioned the 9th Senate against reintroducing or reconsidering the *National Water Resources Bill* which was previously rejected by the 8th Senate following “an outrageous lamentation and outright rejection” across the country.

Comrade Njoku described the bill as ” a digitalised RUGA in disguise”.

Recall that the Senate President, Senator Ahmed Lawan, had recently said that the National Assembly would work out arrangement for the Executive to reintroduce the National Water Resources Bill. The proposed legislation seeks to concentrate the control of water resources around Rivers Niger and Benue which cut across some States in the hands of the Federal Government.

Reacting to the development, Comrade Paul Njoku, queried “why the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government only focuses on tightening spaces and stealing privileges from the Federating Units. The activist further stressed that “based on the Nigerian Constitution, the lands and water resources belong to the States except for the mineral resources.

“The clandestine quest to reintroducing the National Water Resources Bill is nothing but a RUGA initiative in disguise. The National Assembly should as a matter of peace and harmony of this nation, refuse to be negatively used! The 9th Senate must be very careful not to decimate, destroy, kill and finally bury the remnant of this contraption called Nigeria.

“Do the 9th Senate have the right to call for a bill from the Executive if they are not indeed stooges and robber stamp federal legislators to the Executive? This unfortunate and sad script between the 9tg Senate and the Executive should be outrightly rejected by the NASS, State Governors and Nigerians.

“I am not utterly surprised that the 9th Senate is directly calling for the nasty, unholy and discarded bill from the Executive neither are Nigerians so astonished at the second advent of the controversial bill which is a disguised RUGA initiative of the Buhari government to be reintroduced and reconsidered by the 9th Senate. It is an anti-peoples’ bill which must be rejected by all and sundry.

“The World should know that if the proposed bill is reintroduced and passed into law by the 9th Senate, it would give the Federal Government the right to manage and control all surface and groundwater including water beds and banks across the country. States that would be grossly and deeply affected are Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Edo, Delta, Kwara Kogi, Benue, Anambra, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Taraba, Nasarawa, Niger, Imo, Rivers, Bayelsa, Plateau and kebi.

“It is very shameful to note that the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, had personally alerted the Executive for its reintroduction even as it was longtime ago rejected by the 8th Senate in the presence of Senator Ahmed Lawan. As far as am concerned, the bill is a digitalised RUGA perfidy. It is an open encroachment and a Fulanization macabre to peoples’ ancestral lands and patrimonies by the Fulani Caliphate if finally reintroduced and passed into law by the 9th Senate. It is an anti-peoples bill which must be rejected by all and sundry.

“Why is the Buhari government so much obsessed and focused on Fulanisation, tightening spaces and stealing privileges from the Federating Units? Does it not clearly show that this government is pursuing an evil agenda for Fulanisation?

“Federal government should quickly formulate policies that would quell the unprecedented insecurity in the land by the Fulani killer herdsmen, bandits and Boko Haram and build the economy with quality economic projections than introducing RUGA.

“I therefore, urge the 9th Assembly, State Governors and patriotic people of Nigeria to outrightly reject and throw away this controversial and anti-peoples’ bill”. Comrade Njoku stated.

Steve Oko, Publisher/C.E.O, WaWa News Global. For more information on advert placement and news coverage, contact us on: 08038725600, or via email stevemanofgod2000@yahoo.com; wawanewsglobal@gmail.com Always read WaWa News Global - Your most dependable online news platform for the latest breaking news in Nigeria.

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