Labour and civil society groups including African Women Wash Network (AWWHN) and Echoes of Women in Africa (EWN) Thursday took to the streets of Lagos to condemn plans by the Lagos State Government and the World Bank to privatise water resources in the state.
The peaceful protest proceeded from Ikeja under bridge to the Lagos State House of Assembly, Alausa where the protesters delivered a joint letter to Speaker Mudashiru Obasa, asking government to shelve the privatization.
“We are here to deliver a message to the government that the workers are saying ‘no’ to water privatization and ‘no’ to sale of Lagos State assets,” said Idowu Adelabu, Lagos State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress.
“The privatization will bring a lot of calamities to the people of Lagos State. Our message is very clear: There should be no privatization of water in Lagos State.”
Akinbode Oluwafemi, Director of Environmental Right Action (ERA) said Lagosians are rejecting the privatization plans that the World Bank has spent decades paving the way for, because they know the disastrous results of other World Bank-backed projects.
“Rates are hiked, workers are laid off, and families find it harder than ever to access clean, safe water,” he said.
While receiving the letter on behalf of the speaker, Permanent secretary, Office of the Chief of staff, Governor’s office, Mr Biodun Bamgboye denied that government wanted to privatize water in the state.
Bamgboye explained that government is presently embarking on turn around in the corporation and investing more to make it functional.
He assured that if government want to do anything about water, all the stakeholders would be carried along, dismissing the rumour that government is looking for private participation in water distribution in the state.
Since the last quarter of 2014, civil society groups had continued to mount pressure on the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) to back-pedal on its alleged plans to privatize public water supply in the state.
There had been ongoing talks between the LWC and the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank, on designing a water scheme for the state.
But in January, the World Bank announced that it was terminating the discussions with the LWC.
The LWC had, however, continued to insist that it was only seeking partnerships with private companies to optimize water supply to Lagos residents.
The letter was jointly signed by Women Environmental Programme, Grass Roots Africa, Corporate Accountability International, Child Health Organisation Transnational Institute, Philippine, Women Arise, Centre for Children Health Education, Orientation and Protection, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) and Youth Empowerment Foundation.
Louisa Ono Eikhomu, Executive Director, Echoes of Women in Africa, said that the project has been widely criticized in Nigeria, saying the government is using the term Public Private Partnerships in order to privatize the corporation, but that Lagosians will be forced to pay for services they don’t enjoy.
According to her “The World Bank and the bilateral donors must not be allowed to impose their failed privatization conditionality in Lagos. If they can’t learn the lessons from the failures, then we must keep them out.”
Fehintola Marcaulay, Vice Chairperson, AUPCTRE, Lagos chapter, added that access to clean and safe water and sanitation services is the minimum that masses demand from government.” Is this really too much to ask? Is it even credible that, in the 21st century, we can’t ensure universal access to water and sanitation?”