Water Resources Bill: Why Niger Delta Creek Men Must Be Proactive, Not Reactive
By Chief (Barr) Malcolm Omirhobo
LAGOS SEPTEMBER 1ST (NEWSRANGERS)-I am making this clarion call to all Niger Delta creek men particularly Government Ekpemupolo, a.k. a Tompolo., Ateke Tom and Asari Dokubo to speak out now on the satanic and banditry water resources bill before it is too late .
I am using this medium to put my brothers in the creek on notice of the water resources bill which is currently on the floor of the House of Representatives and has passed first reading .
For those of our brothers in the creeks who do not know what the obnoxious and vexatious water resources bill is all about , I will like to take the pains to explain it to them . But before I do so let me quickly point out the importance of water whether on the surface or underneath the earth . Water is an indispensable and essential need of man. By the day water it is becoming scarce . It has been predicted that in the near future most countries of Africa and West Asia will face severe water scarcity due to climate change and human factors.
Apart from drinking water , using it for domestic purposes , swimming and fishing in it, water can be used to produce hydropower by harnessing its energy. When compared to other resources that are used to produce energy and power, water is considered renewable as well as having the least solid waste during energy production.
The water resources bill if passed into law gives the federal government of Nigeria control over the water and land of the people of Niger Delta . If this bill goes through our people will have to pay the FGN for digging a well in their backyard or drilling a bore hole, fish or swim in your water , enjoy recreation , hold festivals or worship egbesu and other gods in their water as they must have to seek licence from Abuja . If this bill goes through the FGN will seize the oxbow lakes, river meander and prominent levees. Large freshwater swamps and mangroves of the people of Niger Delta as it seized their oil and gas.
I am calling on all creek men to engage the FGN, intelligently and constructively on this matter. The creek men must come out openly and unequivocally to reject the water resources bill before it is too late . The Niger Delta creek men must not make the mistake they did with Petroleum Industrial Act 2021 by keeping silent until the bill became law .
All creek men must approach this burning issue with all sense of urgency and responsibility . They must be proactive and not reactive.
All creek men of the Niger Delta must not allow the FGN play on their intelligence like it did in the case of their oil and gas . They must avoid being blackmailed at the peril of their lives and for peanuts used against their own people guiding their own water while the FGN explore and tap their water resources .
All creek men of the Niger Delta must come back to their senses and not be distracted by the N4bn peanut monthly pipeline surveillance contract awarded to Tompolo, by the Nigerian National Petroleum Limited, which is now tearing them apart. The said contract is a smoke screen used by the FGN to becloud them so that they will be busy fighting each other while the water resources bill is passed into law .
.To all Niger Delta creek men , I say unite and fight against the Northern Oligarchy who have stolen your oil and gas and now wants to steal your land and water. The water resources bill is worst than Ruga and thus must be resisted to avoid the FGN settling foreign Fulani herders from neigbouring African countries on your land .
All true creek men must ask the FGN to first pass a law on how the gold and over fifty other solid mineral resources in the Northern part of the country will be tapped for the benefit of all Nigeria before passing into water resources bill into law .
All creek men must know that the water resources bill is an attack on the existence of their people , their inheritance and prosperity .and therefore must fight against it .
It is imperative for all creek men of the Niger Delta to know that their kits and kins are banking on them and therefore must not let them down . The creek men must show this time that it is not all about themselves but their people and that they care .
In the light of the forgoing , I am imploring all Niger Deta creek men to speak up for themselves , their children and unborn generation who will be the judge .
A stitch in time saves nine .
Chief (Barr.) Malcolm Omirhobo, a Human Right lawyer based in Lagos
Short URL: https://newsrangers.com/?p=93094
Posted by News Rangers
on Sep 1 2022. Filed under National.
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