Lagos’ proposed bill on boreholes

A  new Lagos State environmental law which seeks to regulate the sinking of boreholes in private homes and business premises is in the works. The bill has gone through the whole gamut of legislative processes and scrutiny, having been passed by the State House of Assembly, and is only awaiting Governor Akinwumi Ambode’s assent. If the bill becomes law, individuals and corporate bodies who drill boreholes without government’s authorisation will be committing a criminal offence punishable by a jail term of six months and/or fine.

Since the passage of the bill, there has been anxiety among Lagos residents because its provisions are oppressive. It stipulates that residents who allow their neighbours access to water in their homes and those who draw water from them will also be liable to a six-month jail term or a fine of N100, 000. In the same vein, private companies that sink boreholes in their premises without approval from the Office of Drainage Services in the Ministry of the Environment risk a jail term or a fine of N500,000. This is outrageous. Any bill that seeks to deny or make it difficult for humanity to access a basic necessity of life is obnoxious and not worthy of passage into law. The intendment of the drafters of the bill might be noble but the potentially unintended consequence that stares everyone in the face is that it will limit people’s access to water. And that is quite grave and unacceptable in a state where 80 per cent of the populace reportedly have no access to potable water.

Curiously, the bill is reportedly silent on owners of existing boreholes before the proposed law comes into force.  Or is the law meant to have retroactive effect? This should not be so except there is a scheme to surreptitiously make current owners of boreholes scapegoats: to go to jail or pay fines. The proposed bill evidently requires a lot of re-jigging so that it does not become  a draconian law that oppresses and puts avoidable burdens on the citizens it is ostensibly meant to help.  And this must necessarily happen against the backdrop that government has, by negligence of its duties over time, foisted a scenario of desperate private efforts to access water on a few citizens and  corporate bodies that can afford it. Had the government not shirked its responsibility, would people have become their own private municipalities?

It should be noted that taking on municipal functions like provision of water, power, security and others means additional costs which private individuals and businesses would have loved to avoid if there had been viable alternatives. Yet, and ironically so, it would appear that by Lagos State’s current move, people are  being asked to incur more cost by way of payments for official permit to drill boreholes and obtain licences to distribute water. Sadly, it is more than certain that the impending requirements for licences and permits will not be free. The provision in the proposed bill for official authorisation for private individuals and businesses to drill boreholes ostensibly is to maintain standards and rein in unbridled sinking of boreholes which may have long term deleterious effects on the environment.  There also seems to be concern about the harmful effects of drinking untreated water from boreholes that may contain pathogens, lead and other dangerous chemicals and metals. Overall, the official restriction and regulation would seem to be all about public safety. But there is also the undeniable, and perhaps an overriding, goal of revenue generation.

To be sure, the Lagos State government is at liberty to design ingenious ways to raise revenue to deliver superior public goods and services to the citizenry. But such a revenue drive should not be at a greater cost to the populace. Any revenue drive that has the prospect of limiting public access to water is surely very costly and unworthy of pursuit. We urge Governor Ambode not to sign this controversial bill into law until all aspects of the proposed law that potentially  impede access to water in Lagos are expunged. While we align with the objective of the state government to ensure that Lagos residents access only clean and safe water, we urge that public safety objectives should be balanced with improved and inexpensive access to wholesome water in a manner that does not compromise the environment. This may imply increase in public expenditure but the burden must not be shifted to the residents by way of additional charges.