Barr. Pereotubo Oweilaemi
WARRI- National President of the Ijaw youths council (IYC) world-wide, Barr. Pereotubo Oweilaemi has said that President Muhammadu Buhari propsed bill to the senate seeking to control surface and groundwater resources including banks and river beds in any part of Nigeria has been described enimical and declaration of economic war of aggression to the people of Niger Delta, just as the same land use act which perpetually enslaves the region. He vowed Niger Delta people would resist the bill with every legitimate mean.
Oweilaemi made the assertion in a press statement at the weekend which copy was made available to Daily Watch, said ‘‘Niger Delta people will resist the passage of the Bill with all vigour. This is the worst legislative atrocity meted out against the riverine dwellers. The proposed Act is against all known international practices relating to management of water resources. If Nigeria is practicing federal system then this esoteric application of unitary system should be abolished. States should be allowed to have full control of the water in their domains.
‘‘The Bill is antithetical to the economic growth of the Niger Delta region as the riverine communities will be denied of their means of livelihood. This is an economic strangulation, a declaration of economic war of aggression, second to the environmental degradation and despoliation occasioned by the oil exploirative activities.
‘‘The executive Bill currently in the Senate, seeking to control surface and groundwater resources including banks and river beds in any part of Nigeria by the Federal Government is another draconian legislation to further colonize the Niger Delta people. It is an affront to the demands for true federalism and resource control by the federating states.’’
He noted further that ‘‘The objective of the Bill which is Christened: “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” is to perpetuate the Federal Government’s colonisation agenda against the Niger Delta region. This is another Oil Pipelines Act, Petroleum Act, 1999 Constitution, the Land Use Act and many other draconian and inimical legislations that have divested the Niger Delta people of their rights to ownership of oil resources in the region.
He quarried, if the rivers in the region which are the sources of survival to the beleaguered and pauperized riverine communities are in the exclusive control of the Federal Government then what will be the fate of the people? For the sake of peace in the region and for the interest of our collective coexistence, he urged NASS to jettison the passage of the Bill. If however, ‘‘the lawmakers are keen on passing the Bill then they should remove all the rivers in the Niger Delta region. Let them narrow the Bill to only rivers Niger, Benue and Lake Chad.
‘‘We are calling on the lawmakers from the Niger Delta region to reject the passage of this Niger Deltaphobe called Water Resources Bill. We are solidly behind them. We shall take every lawful step to ensure that the Bill do not see the light of the day.’’ He assured federal government.
