By Edu Abade
A coalition of water justice Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) has faulted the management of the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) on its planned stakeholder engagement on the pilot Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the water sector.
A statement signed by the Managing Director of the LWC, Engr. Muktaar Tijani dated August 8, 2025 had stated that the event which had the theme: Attracting Investments for Improved Water Supply in Lagos through Public Private Partnership, was intended to create awareness and gather support for the sustainability of the initiative.
But responding to the announcement, three civil society organisations namely: the Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI), the Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN) and the Citizens Free Service Forum (CFSF) said the engagement rides against the popular opinion expressed by Lagos citizens who have firmly rejected privatization in any form and want public sector solutions to the water challenges in the state.
The groups particularly frowned on what they described as “the stubborn push for privatization of Lagos water resources” built with public funds, at a time when countries that experimented with the privatization of water are remunicipalizing.
Executive Director of RDI, Philip Jakpor said: “We have stated time and again that the major challenge militating against access to water in Lagos is the unwillingness of the state government to listen to popular opinion which has rejected privatization and firmly supports public sector solutions to the Lagos water crisis.
“The so-called stakeholder engagement being planned by the management of LWC is not a gathering of the real stakeholders who reject the attempt of the Lagos government to be stampeded into accepting a new form of colonialism ”
Also responding to the development, Executive Director of EDN, Barrister Chima Williams said: “By coming up with the so-called stakeholder engagement to endorse the PPP plan in the water sector it would seem that the Lagos State government is stubbornly determined to push through privatization despite glaring evidence of the failure of water privatization across the globe including in the UK which the Lagos government used to cite as a model of successful water privatization.
On his part, Executive Director of CFSF, Comrade Sani Baba said: “It is disturbing that the LWC is not sensitive to the implications of pressing ahead with the planned privatisation of utilities built with public funds. It is adding insult to injury to want labour and civil society to endorse the handover of such utilities to for profit only entities. It is unacceptable.”
The groups maintained that the stakeholder engagement is a one-way discussion with predetermined outcomes hence Lagosians should not expect anything meaningful from it.
They insisted that the solution to the Lagos water crisis remains for the Lagos government led by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to jetisson privatisation and instead prioritise sustainable funding of the water sector and for expertise, adopt the Public Public Partnership (PuP) which has worked in other parts of the world.
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