The Senate on Tuesday at plenary stood down consideration of the National Water Resources Bill, 2023, when the bill was listed for concurrence.
The standing down of the bill followed the adoption of a point of order by Gabriel Suswam (PDP-Benue) and supported by James Manager (PDP-Delta).
Mr Suswan cited order 85 of the Senate Rules that provides that senators must be availed of details of provisions of any bill listed for concurrence.
Mr Manager, in his contributions, emphasised the need for full disclosure of details of the bill, saying that the bill as presented only made provision for the title.
It would be recalled that the House of Representatives had passed the bill in 2020 amidst concerns on the intent and purpose of the bill.
Before it was passed by the House of Representatives, the bill was rejected twice in 2018 and 2020 when former President Muhammdu Buhari pushed it, arguing that it was to ensure access to adequate potable water amongst all Nigerians.
But the language of the bill contradicted the president’s claim. The bill was designed to give control of all water bodies in Nigeria to the federal government, a proposal that critics said made a mockery of raging clamour for a restructured and decentralised Nigeria.
Another part of the bill also pushed for citizens to get federal permission to drill bore holes in their homes or businesses premises, a move that analysts said will worsen access to potable water as obtaining permits from the government will be cumbersome and riddled with corruption.
In 2021, politicians and policy experts from Southern Nigeria had accused the Buhari regime of using the bill as an attempt to subjugate the resource-rich section of the country.
A year earlier, federal lawmakers in the House of Representatives had argued that since the issue of water is covered in the Land Use Act, they lacked the jurisdiction to pass such a bill as it would go against the constitution.
Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka and former Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue had criticised the controversial bill at the time, with Mr Ortom describing it as “another version of RUGA.”
Mr Ortom stated, “The bill, in addition to its provisions, which are at variance with the Land Use Act is disguised land-grabbing legislation, designed to grant pastoralists unhindered access to river basins, adjacent marine and coastal environments across the country.
“The bill is another version of RUGA, whose objective is to create grazing areas in the 36 states of the federation for herders and their livestock.”
On his part, Mr Soyinka said the bill was designed to hand Aso Rock Absolute control over the nation’s entire water resources, both over and underground.
“The basic facilitator of human existence, water – forget for now all about streams of righteousness! – is to become exclusive to one centralized authority,” he added.
