24th May, 2017
The House of Representatives on Wednesday, mandated its Committee on Water Resources and one on Climate Change to investigate existing regulations on sinking of boreholes across the country.
The directive followed a resolution reached on a motion by Rep. Rimamnde Kwewum (Taraba-PDP) which was unanimously adopted by the legislators.
Kwewum said that public water system across the country was non-existent, inadequate, archaic or not functional.
According to him, in Abuja, which is the most planned city in Nigeria, most estates, especially the private ones, do not have access to public water system.
The legislator said that Federal and State Governments were required to make provisions for efficient and healthy water supply to the citizenry.
He said that it was because governments at all levels had failed in that responsibility that “in trying to meet their water needs, residents resorted to sinking boreholes’’.
He, however, pointed out that most times, residents sank boreholes without approval and environmental impact assessment being undertaken by relevant government agencies.
Kwewum said that the uncontrolled and unplanned sinking of boreholes may have potential for creating major environmental crisis in the future.
According to him, water obtained from the boreholes are usually not tested and certified for human consumption, thereby exposing unsuspecting citizens to health hazards.
READ: Katsina Firstlady To Empower 50 Women Farmers
He said it had been demonstrated scientifically that water related ailments accounted for over 50 per cent of all ailments afflicting the world.
In his remarks, the Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara, urged the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to publish and enforce existing policies and regulations on boreholes in the FCT.
He mandated the committees to make recommendations for appropriate policies and programmes that met international best practices.
Dogara also mandated the Committees on FCT; Housing and Environment, and Habitat to investigate the non-provision of water by estate developers in Abuja.
He urged the committees to make recommendations that would ensure that all estates had access to the public water supply or create estate water systems to reduce indiscriminate sinking of boreholes in the FCT.