ERA/FOEN Rally against Water Privatisation in Lagos

Solomon Elusoji A rights advocacy group, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth (ERA/FOEN) took to the streets of Lagos on Tuesday to condemn plans by the Lagos State Government and the World Bank to privatise water resources in the state.

In a demonstration that lasted for over four hours, advocates who trekked through Obafemi Awolowo Way in Ikeja to the Governor’s office in Alausa under sweltering conditions demanded a reversal of the plan.

ERA/FOEN, in collaboration with Corporate Accountability International (CAI), the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services (AUPCTRE) and Public Service International (PSI), also demanded a halt to the planned privatisation of Lagos water resources.

At the governor’s office, the group dropped a letter, which gave clarity to their demands, for the state Governor, Babatunde Fashola.

Director, Corporate Campaigns, ERA/FOEN, Akinbode Oluwafemi told THISDAY after the walk: “What we are asking for is clear: we reject privatisation of water in any form, whether you call it PPP (Public Private Partnership) or whatever, we maintain that water is not a commodity to be sold. We don’t want our people to be used as dollar symbols. Water is a right, and Lagosians deserve to get it.”

Akinbode also noted that privatisation has failed in other cities, like Manila in the Philippines, and Nagpur in India, where it has been implemented.

“It is failing in these cities. We don’t want the lives of our people to be downplayed because of profit. We say no to privatisation.”

Since 1979, the Lagos State Government has obtained loans from the World Bank, French government, and international donor agencies to fund water supply schemes in the city. But those loans have not translated into universal access to water for Lagosians.

In recent years, however, reports have emerged that the World Bank’s private arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) is in discussion with the Lagos State Government regarding designs for a Public Private Partnership water privatisation scheme.

“We are surprised the Lagos State Government is coming out with privatisation,” the Secretary of AUPCTRE told THISDAY after the walk.

“The alternative, in solving the water problem, is not to transfer the burden to the citizens through privatisation. The problem is poor manage- ment of resources. They have shown incompetence.

If Holloway (the Managing Director of Lagos Water Corporation (LWC)) cannot manage the available resources well, he should step aside. We are condemning this privatisation.”

The Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Lagos State chapter, Idowu Adelakun, also told THISDAY that the unavailability of clean water in most part of the states was due to mismanagement. “The solution is to overhaul the management,” he said. “Holloway has been there for 10 years, and if he cannot work out a solution without privatising LWC, he should go and be replaced with somebody more competent.”

Adelakun pointed out that most people employed in LWC don’t even know anything about water, which leads to grave ineffectiveness in the line of duty.

However, Shayo Holloway, the LWC boss, has debunked the idea that the government was trying to sell its water assets, in a recent report.

He claimed LWC was only seeking to “partner” the private sector for accelerated development of water infrastructure to meet the state’s current water demand, which presently stands at 540 million gallons per day, for a population of over 21 million.