Lagos Punishing Residents for Not Providing Water

The level of insensitivity and arrogance among Nigerian government officials is becoming increasingly unbearable. Just last week, the Lagos State Government through the Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission (LASWARCO), warned that drilling boreholes without LASWARCO authorisation is illegal and punishable under the law. She stated that the regulation covering groundwater abstraction, consumption, supply and distribution is embedded in the Borehole regulations introduced in 2022 aimed at preventing pollution and ensuring sustainable water management. This is exactly how the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari introduced the Water Resources Bill 2020 which stipulates that Nigerians should obtain permit from the federal government before drilling boreholes in their homes. It took the strong resistance of the media; prominent Nigerians; the uncommon wisdom of the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiiamila; and the able leadership of the then Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio for the obnoxious bill to die at the National Assembly. The question agitating the minds of many Nigerians is: When will governments across the country let the people breathe? Governments have failed to provide water and electricity for the people. While majority of Nigerians are dying of lack of water and electricity, the privileged ones resorted to the use of generators and solar to power their homes. They also drill boreholes to provide water for themselves because public water supply stopped flowing in several state capitals across the country since early 2000s. Enugu, the capital of Enugu State was one of the state capitals worst hit by water scarcity. But in their quest to boost internal revenue by imposing levies on the suffering masses, agents of state governments made laws that require residents to pay for permit before installing solar and drilling boreholes. In countries where governments are responsive to the needs of the people, the provision of portable water is a basic function of the government. Sinking boreholes by individuals is very rare and viewed as harmful to the environment. But in Nigeria, governments extort the suffering masses by regulating boreholes instead of providing water to discourage drilling of boreholes. Adeyemo should stop her sermons on safety and earth movement and find out why residents have resorted to sinking boreholes. Good leadership is not about unleashing hardship on the masses to generate more internal revenue.