CAPPA Rejects Lagos PPP Water Scheme, Calls It Privatisation in Disguise

The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has rejected the Lagos State Government’s plan to privatise water supply through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, warning that the model will worsen access and affordability for residents.

In a statement signed by the organisation's Media and Communication Officer, Robert Egbe on Wednesday, CAPPA criticised a two-day advocacy workshop convened last week by the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) to promote the scheme, describing it as a “sham public relations exercise.”

The workshop, themed “Attracting Investment for Improved Water Supply in Lagos State through Public-Private Partnership,” drew pledges from members of the Lagos State House of Assembly to fast-track legal changes that would give private investors wide-ranging protections. 

The state’s Office of PPPs also announced that a pilot project covering about 10 per cent of water infrastructure would mark Lagos’ “first concession.”

Mukhtaar Tijani and Akinbode Oluwafemi

But CAPPA said the process was anti-people and designed to strip residents of their right to safe and affordable public water.

Executive Director of CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said “Water will no longer be recognised as a human right but will instead be reduced to a financial asset securitised for the comfort of investors.” 

The group faulted claims by LWC Managing Director, Mukhtaar Tijani, that CAPPA had “deliberately” declined to attend the workshop. 

It said the event was held only after the government had already issued a Request for Proposals (RFP No. LSWC/BFOT/001/2025), inviting bids for the rehabilitation, upgrade, and operation of mini and micro waterworks under a Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (BFOT) PPP model.

“Genuine stakeholder engagement must precede, not follow, policy and investment decisions,” CAPPA said, adding that the approach showed “contempt for accountability” and reduced residents to “afterthoughts.”

CAPPA noted that Lagos had a history of conducting water sector deals without transparency. 

It recalled that in April 2025, the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources signed a Memorandum of Understanding with U.S-based Belstar Capital and Turkish firm ENKA, but residents were not informed of the scope, financing model, or safeguards.

Similarly, in 2024, the state launched the Lagos Water Partnership (LWP), which CAPPA described as “a hollow platform” since contracts had already been signed with the Resilient Water Accelerator before the partnership was announced.

The organisation dismissed Tijani’s insistence that PPPs were not privatisation, pointing out that concessions, leases, management contracts, and BFOT models all amount to privatisation since they hand over operational control and tariff decisions to private operators.

CAPPA further argued that PPPs in Africa and beyond had a poor track record. It cited Rwanda’s Kigali Bulk Water Project, which has struggled with losses and service disruptions; South Africa’s Biwater concession, which was hit by tariff hikes and disputes; and Morocco’s water concessions, known for billing controversies.

The group also pointed to England’s water sector, where privatised companies have raised bills by 40 per cent since 1989, paid out £85 billion to shareholders, and left behind sewage spills and underinvestment.

“Cities such as Paris, Berlin, Buenos Aires, and Jakarta have all taken back their water systems after failed privatisation. Lagos is choosing to repeat mistakes that others are reversing,” CAPPA said.

As a solution, CAPPA urged the state government to rebuild in-house capacity, invest more in public water infrastructure, and explore Public-Public Partnerships. 

It demanded an immediate halt to the ongoing PPP scheme, the withdrawal of the current RFP, full disclosure of agreements already signed with investors, and the start of a “truly open dialogue” on sustainable alternatives.