Politics
MAGASHI Bashir, the Executive Director, Nigeria Integrated Water Resources Management Commission (NIWRMC), has warned against indiscriminate drilling of borehole across the country.
Bashir gave the warning when he appeared on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), flagship programme, Forum on Friday in Abuja.
According to him, the commission is making every effort to address the issue of indiscriminate drilling of a borehole in the country.
“The issue of indiscriminate drilling is what we are trying to address, we have Borehole Drillers Association of Nigeria (BDAN), and there are two bodies that we are dealing with Association of Water Well Drilling Rig Owners and Practitioners (AWDROP) and that of (BDAN).
“These are the two drilling industries and they have people registering under them on this drilling.
“We are saying as a commission that they shouldn’t drill borehole anyhow but it has become an issue of ego in this country that all of them want to have a borehole.
“So, we have boreholes, in one street you see over 20 or 30 boreholes and they are all taking water from one aquifer and all of them is misusing water.
“We advise people not to misuse water some of the houses having borehole they keep the water running because they are not paying anything what they do is that they pay for the drilling and you have water in your house and that is the end.
“It is pure water and they will use it to wash cars, we use this water that we supposed to use for consumption and for cooking and use to wash cars and so many things. It is only in Nigeria that you will have all these things,’’ he said.
Bashir, however, advised Nigerians to be careful about how they use and manage water at home, adding that the commission should be informed before drilling any borehole in any part of the country.
He said that the commission was monitoring the activities of all the companies and drillers to ensure that they were operating in line with the principles guiding the license given to them.
He said that the commission was interested mainly in data collected from each borehole drilled by the drillers, to enable it to calculate the amount of groundwater involved.
The executive director said the commission would prosecute firms operating without water use license or refuses to register with the commission before operating.
According to him, if you are not registered and you are practicing you are quacks.
“We are not too careful of what is happening in our environment, quack drillers constitute an offence liable to persecution in a court of competent jurisdiction,” he said (NAN)
– Jul. 3, 2020 @ 14:39 GMT |
Tags: Commission warns against indiscriminate drilling of borehole
