Draconian water resources bill, FG is suffocating us – Gov Douye Diri

Bayelsa State Governor Senator Douye Diri has condemned the National Water Resources Bill currently before the National Assembly, saying it will have a negative effect on the predominantly state maritime if adopted.

Senator Diri also called the National Water Resources Bill draconian, saying it would be unfair and unjust to introduce the Water Resources Bill as oil-producing states s were still agitating for fair treatment of their oil and gas resources.

The state governor made his position known on Friday when Water Resources Minister Suleiman Adamu, represented by Permanent Secretary, Dame Didi Walson-Jack and his team paid him a courtesy call at Government House , Yenagoa.

Governor Diri said, "The Water Resources Bill is not acceptable. The provisions of the Bill, if made into law, would have a more negative impact on us since we are a predominantly environmental Having taken our oil and gas resources, the federal government is trying to introduce a water resources act at a time when we are still fighting for a fair deal. This bill is tantamount to suffocating us. The federal government is on our neck and we can't breathe."

Governor Diri has called on the sponsors of the bill to withdraw it, saying the country has a federal system of government rather than a unitary government.

"We run a federal government where you don't centralize resources or political power. It's where you run a unitary system of government that these kinds of draconian bills can happen. But in an ideal federal system , you allow states to expropriate their resources and pay taxes to the federal government.

"They emasculate the resources of the states and then give them peanuts. They still turn around and say that the states don't work. How can they perform when you take all their resources away from them?"

On the issue of ending open defecation, the governor assured that as part of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project, his administration would collaborate with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to end the threat, because it is one of the indices of development.

He said that some of the initiatives the state government has put in place to end the era of open defecation include the establishment of the Bayelsa State Council for Water Resources. water and the approval of 250 million naira for the WASH project this year.

The state helmsman also asked the water resources commissioner to ensure that the 3.6 million liter federal government water supply system in Otuoke is revived, adding that water stations water in Yenagoa, Ovom and Okaka had been rehabilitated.

Earlier, the Minister for Water Resources, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dame Didi Walson-Jack, said that in 2019 a national campaign had been launched to end open defecation in the country.

The Minister said this was key to achieving Sustainable Development Goal number six on water and sanitation.

He noted that an estimated 48 million people practice open defecation in the country, which has necessitated building a new culture of safe sanitation across Nigeria.

He said that so far, 83 local government areas in the country are open defecation free and that the ministry is currently working in Brass and Kolokuma/Opokuma local government areas in the country. State in collaboration with UNICEF to end open defecation in these areas.

While pledging to provide technical support to resuscitate the Otuoke water supply system, the minister sought the partnership of the state government to ensure that the other six local government areas attain the status of open defecation by 2025, which is the national set target.