Water Crisis Looms As CAPPA Warns Lagos Over Concession, Prepaid Meters
Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab Residents of Lagos could face deeper hardship in accessing one of life’s most basic necessities if plans to concession parts of the state’s public water infrastructure and expand prepaid metering go ahead, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has warned. The civil society organisation in a statement signed by its Media and Communications Officer, Robert Egbe, said the proposed arrangement could leave low-income households paying more for unreliable water, while giving private companies significant influence over distribution, tariffs, metering and household access. CAPPA’s warning followed the Lagos State Government’s signing of a one-year Memorandum of Understanding with China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) and Naston Engineering Nigeria Limited to scope components of a water infrastructure programme within the Lekki Concession Area. Under the proposed arrangement, the f...