Afenifere, Ohaneze, others slam N ’Assembly over water resource bill
The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organization, Afenifere, and Ohaneze Ndi-Igbo have slammed the federal government and the National Assembly over the re-introduction of the National Water Resources Bill 2020, formerly rejected two years ago.
In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, the group opposed the bill, says it should be thrown away.
Surprised at the National Assembly’s moves, Yinka said, “What public hearing are they going to conduct on a dead bill they surreptitiously revived against their own rules in the order to rubber stamp? They can’t hoodwink sensible Nigerians with such a promise of a hearing. They should just bury the obnoxious Bill.”
Reacting also, the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, said that if the National Assembly passed the bill, “it will signal the final disintegration of the nation,” adding that “nobody will be ready to give up his ancestral land without a fight and the whole of the country will be embroiled in the resultant turmoil.”
The President of Middle Belt Youth Council, Emma Zopma said, ”We totally agree with Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State that Water Resources Bill is another Ruga policy. We urge all Middle Belt and southern lawmakers in the National Assembly to bury that bill on the floor of the House and the Senate.
“The North doesn’t have water resources so why are they interested in controlling water resources? The statement by the House committee chairman is too suspicious. All other burning national issues previously have been subjected to public hearings.
That of water resources bill cannot be different because it’s of utmost importance to the Middle Belt and Southern Nigeria. That bill shouldn’t be allowed to be smuggled into law.”
Nwada Ugochinyere Onyechere reporting, Obinwannem News
