Governors, lawmakers, and others in the Delta are urged to oppose the proposed water resources bill.

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports

The Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio, a group of Ibibio ethnic nationalities, has asked governors and National Assembly members from the Niger Delta region and other coastal states in Nigeria to speak out against the proposed Water Resources Bill being presented for consideration at the National Assembly.

The body stated that this was the time for all the governors and National Assembly members from the coastal region, irrespective of party affiliations, to band together and defeat the bill in a communique issued at the conclusion of its Central Working Committee (CWC),weekend, in Uyo, signed by its International President, Akparawa James Edet, and International Secretary, Akparawa (Elder) Bassey Bassey.

The group characterized the law as evil, tyrannical, completely out of focus, and an attempt to deny the Niger Delta region’s residents and residents of other coastal states access to resources that were freely given to them by God and, by doing so, further poor them.

A bill that seeks to give the federal government ownership, control, and management of surface and underground waters, similar to what is possible with petroleum resources, is an affront to the sensibilities of our people, according to the communique, and must be rejected and fought with all peaceful and constitutional means at our disposal to ensure it does not become law.

Therefore, it urged members of the National Assembly and the federal government to resist any attempts by the bill’s proponents to exacerbate the already-existing schisms in our nation, which have bred mistrust because of actions, inactions, policies, and lopsided appointments to important positions in favor of a particular section of the country.

The group claimed that the federal government should be concerned about the fact that our students have been confined to their homes for more than six months as a result of the ASUU strike, during which time the level of insecurity has skyrocketed thanks to deaths and kidnappings for ransom.
It further argued that the federal government should be concerned because the naira, the nation’s currency, is in free fall and is at its lowest point in history; businesses are closing down; and foreign investors are leaving the country as a result of exorbitant operating costs and bad economic policies.

“What should concern policy makers in our country is how to direct all energy and resources towards addressing those issues and not to plunge the country into another avoidable crisis, with such a highly contentious bill, which is suspected to have been put forward to serve sinister and sectional interests.

The communique stated that Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio would organize strong opposition to the Water Resources Bill “working with other ethnic nationality groups in the Niger Delta region and sister coastal states and hopes that other patriotic Nigerians who desire the unity and cohesion of the country will lend their voices as well, as injury to one is injury to all.”