‘NIWA Bill ’ll Subjugate N’Delta States’

The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) Bill being sponsored by Senator Zaynab Abdulkadir Kure has been described as a centrist legislation with a sole purpose of encouraging divestment of resources from the littoral states of the Niger Delta.

A social commentator and public affairs analyst, Preye Steven Aganaba, who stated this in an open letter to Senator Kure, emphasised that there was need for independence and separate existence of the federating states.

Aganaba pointed out that in a federation, the federating units need not exist as an appendage of another or the centre, adding that, “they rather should exist as autonomous entities in the sense of being able to exercise their own will in the management of their affairs and territories free from the control of the Federal Government.”

He regretted that the centralisation of resources and responsibilities in a plural society like Nigeria through agencies such as NIWA would culminate in needless bureaucracy, stagnation of development and corruption.

The public affairs analyst also criticised the bill for not taking cognisance of the cultural values and economic importance of the littoral states of the Niger Delta to the national development agenda.

“…Thus, a law like the NIWA Act to confiscate the rivers, creeks, lagoons, among others, is tantamount to an act of sublime internal subjugation,” he stated, adding that the rivers had been the possession of the communities where they are located before the emergence of the Nigerian state.

He, therefore, lamented that the bill would run contrary to the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution, which is the basic law of the land and the people.

According to him, the former NIWA Act was promulgated by a military decree as the Constitution had been suspended; and expressed surprise that the bill was being sponsored without reference to the Constitution.

Aganaba, therefore, called on members of the National Assembly to exercise serious caution in the passage of the NIWA Bill, warning that nothing should be done in that stead to offend the spirit of the Constitution.

John Chidi Enyie