{"id":16126,"date":"2024-04-18T00:51:55","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T00:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/?p=16126"},"modified":"2024-04-18T00:52:34","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T00:52:34","slug":"driving-nigerias-economic-growth-through-water-use-license","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/2024\/04\/18\/driving-nigerias-economic-growth-through-water-use-license\/","title":{"rendered":"Driving Nigeria\u2019s Economic Growth through Water Use License"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Sampson Ikemitang<\/em><\/p>\n

Water is indispensable to life, holding a unique significance among natural resources. While survival might be possible without others, it’s inconceivable without water. Managing water resources involves considerations of quantity, quality, and future variability, vital for societal sustenance and economic development.<\/p>\n

Nigeria’s industries are acknowledging the nation’s water scarcity, prompting cultural and technological shifts towards water-wise practices. Therefore, the application and granting of water use licenses are crucial steps towards fostering more sustainable water usage.<\/p>\n

To address this, the Federal Executive Council established the Nigeria Integrated Water Resources Management Commission (NIWRMC) in May 2007. The Commission plays a pivotal role in regulating, protecting, and conserving water resources to ensure equitable socio-economic development and environmental integrity.<\/p>\n

Operating under the delegated power of the Minister of Water Resources, the Commission defines standards, regulates water resources development, and ensures adherence to international best practices. A significant regulatory function includes issuing water use licenses to raw bulk water users, specifying effective locations, purposes, and durations, along with attached conditions.<\/p>\n

But what exactly is a water use license? It’s a written permit authorizing water abstraction for various activities, governed by the Water Resources Act 2004. This license stipulates usage conditions, such as permissible water abstraction volumes during irrigation seasons.<\/p>\n

Certain activities require licensing under the Water Resources Act, including surface and groundwater abstraction, construction of hydraulic structures, irrigation systems, mining-related water usage, and waste discharge management.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the Commission oversees Water Use License Applications (WULA), a process essential for commercial-scale water withdrawals. Contrary to general authorization, WULA involves site visits, public participation, and impact assessments, ensuring comprehensive scrutiny of proposed activities.<\/p>\n

Through these processes, the Commission has issued 89 water use licenses across various sectors, including hydropower generation, irrigation, industrial usage, and water quality analysis centers, among others.<\/p>\n

Regulating water abstraction and related activities is vital for sustainable resource management and economic growth. Water use licenses have the potential to significantly impact Nigeria’s economy, particularly amid declining crude oil revenues.<\/p>\n

As Nigeria navigates economic diversification, revenue generation from the water resources sector becomes increasingly crucial. The Commission remains steadfast in its commitment to this goal, recognizing the imperative of robust regulations and oversight in harnessing water resources for national development.<\/p>\n

Sampson Ikemitang writes from the Nigeria Integrated Water Resources Management Commission, Abuja.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0 By Sampson Ikemitang Water is indispensable to life, holding a unique significance among natural resources. While survival might be possible without others, it’s inconceivable without water. Managing water resources involves considerations of quantity, quality, and future variability, vital for societal sustenance and economic development. Nigeria’s industries are acknowledging the nation’s water scarcity, prompting cultural […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,346,366],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-culture","category-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}