HOME WATER RESOURCES PRESS STATEMENT The water resources Act No 101 of 1993 categorically and unequivocally vests the right to the use and control of all surface water and groundwater in all water courses affecting more than one state together with the bed and banks in the federal government of Nigeria .section 1 (1) states: “the right to the use and control of all surface and groundwater and of all water in any water course affecting more than one state as described in the schedule to this Act, together with the bed and banks thereof, are by the virtue of this Act and without further assurance vested in the government of the federation”. From the aforementioned section of the Water Resources Act, the proponent of the construction of the Kafin-Zaki Dam is the federal government, represented by the federal ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources. The ministry is the right and competent agency to carry out any Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on this project. The Bauchi State government is only a potential beneficiary, should the project pass through the rigorous analysis, stands and positions of other stakeholders who are averse to it. The EIA Act of 1992 clearly and expressly makes a mandatory provision for the agency, in this case, the federal ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, to before embarking on any such project; apply for approval from the federal ministry of environment, Housing and Urban Development to conduct the EIA as it were. Section 2 (4) stipulates thus; “All agencies, institutions (whether public or private) except exempted pursuant to this Act, shall before embarking on the proposed project apply in writing to the agency, so that subject activities can be quickly and surely identified and environmental impact assessment applied as the activities being planned. There is no ambiguity or lacuna in the due process and procedure on who is responsible for the execution of the EIA as it affects the proposed construction of the Kafin-Zaki Dam. In the light of the above crystal clear and solid provisions in both the water Resources and Environmental Impact Assessment Acts, my constituents and were alarmed by the attempted breach and contradictions of the two Acts and indeed infraction on the due process by Bauchi state government and the federal ministry of Environment, Housing and Urban Development . The Bauchi state government had through their commissioned consultant, THEMATRICS Associates Nigeria Limited, vide a letter referenced EIA/KZ-DAM/05/08, applied for approval by the Federal ministry of Environment, Housing and Urban Development, to carry out EIA for the completion of the “abandoned” Kafin-Zaki dam project. The ministry granted approval through the letter referenced FMENV/CONF/EIA/123.1156/VOL/1/41 dated 26th September 2008. Meanwhile, the federal ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources had only last week approved SAHELCONSULT Nig. LTD to carry out the EIA on the same project. It is imperative to mention that, this is the lawful and the right channel for the conduct of the EIA on the Kafin-Zaki Dam project. As the procedure is flawed, warped and channels distorted, the draft report remains invalid and wholly unacceptable to us downstream communities of River Jama’re. The on-going process is totally u and completely illegitimate and unconstitutional. I want to take this opportunity to advise the federal ministry Environment, Housing and Urban development to withdraw the public notice for information and comments on the Draft EIA report submitted by the Bauchi state government and to discontinue with the entire process as it is capable of creating avoidable and unnecessary tensions in the downstream communities. Finally, on behalf of my constituents, in Yobe North, and indeed all the 8-10 million stakeholders in the downstream of River Jama’re, thank the Federal Government for remaining steadfast and resisting undue pressure to circumvent the well defined due process in the proposed construct ion of the controversial Kafin-Zaki bDam. I also want to congratulate the federal ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, the proponent of the dam, for approving the award of the contract and to urge the ministry to expedite action by signing the contract agreement for the conduct of a comprehensive EIA in the affected areas. Senator AHMAD IBRAHIM LAWAN, [ DAN-MASANIN BADE PhD, CON ]. YOBE NORTH.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 14:22:29 +0000
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