Plateau State governor, Simon Lalong, has been urged not to sign the Water Sector Bill which was recently passed by the Plateau State Assembly.

The call was made yesterday by the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) and the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (AUPCTRE).

A statement issued by AUPCTRE national president, Comrade Benjamin Anthony, said the hurried passage of the bill in spite of popular aversion to its Public-Private Partnership (PPP) provisions, was a total disregard for the people.

Article three sub-section 1 (p) of the bill seeks to promote PPP principles in the development and management of water resources in Plateau State. The bill was passed last week following a report of the House Standing Committee on Parastatals. Hon Godfrey Langdip who read the report, said it had been subject to deep scrutiny, including the involvement of critical stakeholders at the public hearing on April 16, 2019.

AUPCTRE has urged Governor Lalong not to append his signature to the bill. “We are not only dismayed with this news; we feel the Plateau State House of Assembly just gifted the citizens of the state a bad law that will mortgage their future and tie them to the loins of for-profit only entities. We reject the PPP in its entirety.

“The Plateau State government must build the political will to prioritize water for the people by investing in the water infrastructure necessary to provide universal water access. This which will create jobs, improve public health, and invigorate the Plateau economy”, they insisted.