Members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday clashed over the controversial National Water Resources Bill with the debate on the bill turned into a shouting match. Some members of the House, mostly from the southern part of the country and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, raised various legal and procedural issues on the bill.
The clash began when the member representing Makurdi-Guma Federal Constituency in Benue, Ben Mzondu moved a motion questioning the procedure followed in the passage of the national water bill.
“This same Water Bill was stated as National Water Resource Bill 2020 but it was not treated as such. A bill that emanated in 2020 should have gone through first reading, second reading and third reading before passage, it was not treated as such,” Mzondu told the House.
There later emerged dissenting voices following Mzondu’s observation and this did not go down well with some of the members. However, the Chairman of the House Committee on Water Resources, Mr Sada Soli drew the ire of his colleagues, when he insisted that the members complaining about the bill were in the chambers when it was passed by the committee.
