Group urges Lagos Speaker to reject privatization of water sector

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the
Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has asked the Speaker of
Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, to
side with Lagos people in rejecting Public Private
Partnerships (PPPs) in the water sector.
ERA/FoEN, in a letter to the Speaker titled
‘Privatisation is Not Solution to Lagos Water
Problem,’ frowned at attempts to foist the PPP model
of water privatization on the people despite the
World Bank withdrawal from the scheme following
civil society pressure and documented failures in
other parts of the world.
Speaking at an event to mark the Lagos House of
Assembly’s one year in office on June 9, Mr. Obasa
had said that privatization was the way out of the
state’s water crisis.
“If you want clean water and to stop people from
digging borehole, you must privatize the agency
(Lagos Water Corporation),” Mr. Obasa was quoted
as saying.
“Foreign partners want to come in and this is at a
cost. Then come to think of the dangers of sinking
boreholes. So what we are trying to do now is to
create the conducive environment for the foreign
investors to come in.”
ERA/FoEN described Mr. Obasa’s comments as “very
disturbing.”
In their letter, the group insisted that PPPs fail to
invest in the kind of massive infrastructure that
people need, adding that the most celebrated water
privatization schemes have failed as governments
who fell into the trap are now opting instead for
remunicipalisation.
“Rather than bring efficiency, PPPs are known to
have led to cost-cutting measures, prices hikes,
layoffs and the extraction of profit from the people
at the expense of human rights”, it read.
Manila, Nagpur, Cochabamba and Paris, were cited
as examples of PPP failures and the recourse to
remunicipalisation – a term for taking back
previously privatized public water infrastructure
from the hands of the privatisers.
ERA/FoEN said the Lagos State Water Corporation
present parlous state of affairs is a result of over 16
years of World Bank-driven policies, bad
management and monumental corruption.
“Apart from budgetary allocations, the LSWC
attracted loans from the World Bank and
international donor agencies to fund water supply
expansion schemes such as the Iju, Adiyan, and
Isashi Waterworks, as well as expansion of
distribution networks,” the group stated.
“These loans, running into billions of naira have not
translated into improved water supply for residents
and no one is being called to account for this.”
The group drew the Speaker’s attention to
Resolution 64/292 of the United Nations General
Assembly which recognized the human right to
water and sanitation and acknowledged that clean
drinking water and sanitation are essential to the
realization of all human rights.
The resolution urged national governments to take
necessary action to provide safe, clean, accessible
and affordable drinking water for all.
On the way forward, the group recommended that
water remain in public control, urging the speaker
to support its campaign to get the Lagos government
to reject all forms of water privatization.

Source: Primetime