SUNDAY SERMON: Anambra Environment Ministry And Boreholes—When Moses Strikes the Rock Twice for Water

By Tony Okafor

Access to water is a basic human need. Yet across Nigeria, that promise remains largely unfulfilled. In Anambra, as in many states, public water taps have run dry for years.

Efforts by the current administration to revive public water supply in Anambra have, so far, made little difference from what obtained under previous administrations.

Citizens have therefore responded the only way they could by spending millions of naira to sink boreholes in their homes, schools and businesses simply to survive.

Now, the same government that has struggled or even failed to provide reliable public water appears to be turning around to regulate—and potentially burden—those who have provided water for themselves.

Recently, the Anambra State Ministry of Environment began circulating demand notices to residents across the state. Their offence? Having a borehole on their premises.

The notices demand certification and compliance within five working days, with penalties threatened for non-compliance.

There is nothing inherently wrong with regulation. Government has a duty to test water quality, prevent contamination and protect underground water resources. But regulation must not become suffocation.

This brings to mind Moses in the Holy Bible.When the Israelites needed water, God instructed Moses to speak to the rock. Instead, Moses struck the rock twice with his rod. Water came out, but God condemned the manner in which Moses acted.

The lesson is striking: a legitimate objective does not justify an unnecessarily harsh method of achieving it.

Compounding the issue is a growing and troubling allegation that a private company may be prodding the Ministry to take this action in pursuit of private interests and commercial benefit. If true, that would be not only vexatious but deeply condemnable.

Public policy must never be hijacked to serve private profit at the expense of citizens who are already bearing the cost of government failure.

The allegation deserves prompt and transparent investigation. Where culpability is established, appropriate sanctions should follow.The people deserve to know that their water is being regulated in the public interest—not for private profit.

Mr Governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, please call the Commissioner for Environment to order.

People are passing through difficult times. To demand fees and certification within a five-day ultimatum from people who drilled boreholes because government water was unavailable is, metaphorically, to strike the rock twice.