The senate, yesterday threw out the contentious Nigeria Inland Waterways Bill, 2023 (repeal and re-enactment), after it was listed for concurrence on the order paper for consideration and passage.
The legislation was entitled, ‘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 Matter.’
The summary 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 proposed legislation sought to concentrate the control of water resources around Rivers Niger and Benue which cut across 19 states, in the hands of the Federal Government.
If passed, states that would have be affected are Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Edo, Delta, Kwara, Kogi, Benue, Anambra, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Taraba, Nasarawa, Niger, Imo, Rivers, Bayelsa, Plateau, and Kebbi.
The senate’s rejection of the bill had put an end to the controversy generated by the bill among governors and federal lawmakers majorly from the southern part of the country.
When the bill was read for concurrence at the plenary, Mr. Gabriel Suswam, representing Benue northeast raised Order 85 of the senate standing rules which provides that senators must have full details of the provisions of any bill coming for concurrence.
For his part, M. James Manager, representing Delta south senatorial district who seconded Suswam stressed the need to have details of the bill since provision was made for only the title of bill.
The senate president, Mr. Ahmad Lawan later ruled in favour of the rule cited
Thereafter, the senate withheld concurrence to the bill, having ruled in favour of those who opposed it.
It would be recalled that the house of representatives had passed the bill in 2020 amidst suspicion by members and the general public.
Before the passage, chairman of the house committee on water resources, Mr. Sada Soli, said the then minister of justice and attorney-general of the federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami 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.
A member of the house from Benue State, Mr. Mark Gbillah, had raised the alarm when the bill was to be taken for the first reading.
Gbillah had said: “I am aware that the matter listed for first reading, the National Water Resources Bill, generated a lot of controversies within this honourable House and even across the country, and some of us wonder why this issue is still being represented on the floor of the House because some of us are not comfortable in support of this bill in the first instance Mr. speaker. I thought I should bring that to the notice of the Right Honourable Speaker.
There were verbal fireworks in the house on September 29, 2020, with some members, mostly from the southern part of the country, raising various legal and procedural issues against the bill.
Recall that former President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2017 presented the controversial bill to both chambers of the national assembly, which seek to transfer the control of water resources from the states to the federal government.
