*Accuses Miyetti Allah of attempt to grab national waterways
*Asks NASS to drop the Bill
By Williams Orji and Emma Okereh
The Water Resources Bill has again received knocks as a pressure group in the Middle-Belt, the Tiv Youths Organisation (TYO), yesterday vehemently kicked against it, asking the National Assembly to halt further proceedings.
They also accused the sponsors of the Bill of toying with the peace and stability of the country, insisting that the Bill can only create more problems for the country.
They claimed that the hidden agenda in the Bill is to promote Fulani hegemony and occupation, accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of not helping matters since he came into office in 2015.
Speaking at a press conference addressed by its president, Mr. Timothy Hembaor, the group accused Miyetti Allah, the Fulani socio-cultural organization which hpromotes pastoral cattle rearing, of land grabbing through the waterways across the country to their exclusive use through claimed tacit support of the Buhari administration.
Insisting that the plot will never be accomplished, TYO maintained that water bodies or water flowing across any community belongs to such community and not to outsiders.
He added, “Ethiopia has just activated the biggest dam in Africa on the section of the Nile which flows through its territory to the chagrin of Egypt and Sudan because that part of the Nile belongs to Ethiopia.
“In my backwoods, every portion of the stream that flows through the countryside has an ownership that is respected by the community.
“Even fish ponds are owned and no one would just come fishing. You will be chased away and the fish confiscated.
“And these waterways are blessings from God to these communities and the survival of these communities depend on the management of these rivers”.
In raising posers over the plan to enact the Water Bill, TYO said: “How can any responsible government rationalise the conversion of water to the exclusive preserve of the federal government, just for Fulani herdsmen to have unfettered access to green grass and foliage across the country?
“Does this government ponder on why the Fulani have become a scourge to communities in Nigeria?
“Our land and grass have not changed; it is the Fulani that have changed in their approach to the various communities that host them: they come with a conquistador attitude, to plunder and kill so that their cows and flock can eat, not only grass but farm crops.
“There was a time Fulani were friendly to the extent that amorous relationships flowered and the exchange of meat and milk were the defining ethos of relationships.
“Now, people shudder when they see Fulani and these are the people the federal government want to enshrine on our rivers and waterways. It is a death sentence!
“The Middle Belt and South Belt Fora have kicked against the Bill already passed by the House of Representatives, giving fillip to the federal government to take over our waterways. The Senate must dismiss this Bill like it was thrown out in 2018.
“We must know that this Bill is not an APC initiative but a Miyetti Allah strategy to warm itself into the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.
YTO called for a replacement of the Service Chiefs, who they accused of losing track of ideas to bring up to fight banditry, insurgency and general insecurity.
They also condemned the RUGA policy, which they said is meant to legalise land seizures, and now replaced by the Waterway Bill as a decoy.
