Conflict Potentials of the 2020 Water Resources Bill

Water tensions and conflicts seem subtle, yet deep. They cut across international and local spaces. Across the eight states of the Nile Basin, water is thought to be a possible source of future conflicts due to increasing water needs. Within local spaces, water can become a touchstone for a range of tensions which may mature into major internal conflicts.

When water tensions mix with identity issues and politics, they create complexities in politics and law, especially in deeply divided societies like Nigeria, where there exists high wire politics around all forms of resource distribution. The country\’s recent National Water Resources Bill 2020 seeks to bring control of all water resources in Nigeria both surface and underground and the banks of the water sources under the power of the Federal Government. Fears are rife that if the Bill becomes a law, it would be a source of water conflicts.

This edition of Nextier SPD Policy Weekly considers the Water Resources Bill, its significant points of tension, local political dynamics and conflict potentials of the Bill if it becomes a law.

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