Adamu optimistic 9th Assembly will pass water resources bill

By YANGE IKYAA

The minister of water resources, Engr Suleiman Adamu, on Monday expressed optimism that the 9th Assembly could still pass the contentious Water Resources Bill before its end of tenure in early June.

Adamu maintained that the bill remains a game changer for Nigerians, if passed into law either by the 9th Assembly or the incoming 10th Assembly. He was speaking during a valedictory forum with journalists to mark the end of his two terms as minister, which is less than three weeks away.

“I can only hope that the National Water Resources Bill is not even too late, I have not lost hope, the National Assembly is still office until early June, so if they can still pass it fine or subsequently maybe the progressive stakeholders will come. And, of course, it is going to be in my handing over notes for the incoming minister, and I hope he is going to be somebody who will also look at it from a pure professional point of view and not in politics,” he said.

Adamu also charged Nigerians to take ownership and responsibility of water projects in their communities and not to wait for the government so that vandals will not seize the opportunity to tamper with such projects.

His words: “On the Water Resources Bill, again I have no regrets, people just politicized it. As far as I know the story is not finished. It is still at the National Assembly, what they decide to do with it is within their prerogative.

“We have the best of intentions and someday, we will get there.

“Politicians who opposed it, you have seen where some of them have ended after the elections

“We have done all we need to do as executive, we have gone round to enlighten the people but the good news is, like I have said other times before, 96 per cent of that bill is already existing.

“So what is the big deal? If we choose that we do not want a WASH Fund, that is for the states to worry about, and they are to find alternative means to finance their investments.

“If you do not want to empower the rural water user associations to take charge of irrigation, we will find other means to do that; if you do not want to find a stronger regulator for the water sector, fine and good, no private capital would come into the sector and at the end of the day, we are still the losers. The Bill has nothing to do with President Muhammadu Buhari, they are just hurting themselves not Buhari.

“I took the Bill to the National Assembly as a professional in the interest of Nigerians. It was just to give a little facelift and we were aggressive about it and not to offend or shortchange people, and we were doing it because we have a responsibility to improve the water resources from where we met it. Deliberate misinformation is only going to hurt Nigerians.”

The minister will be remembered for completing most of the 116 abandoned water projects by previous administrations throughout Nigeria, which he inherited on assumption of office in 2015.