CAPPA Urges Lagos to Halt Water Privatisation, Demands Transparency in PPP Deals

 

CAPPA's Assistant Executive Director, Zikorah Ibeh

Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), has urged the Lagos State Government to suspend all ongoing plans to privatise public water systems, warning that such moves undermine climate resilience and citizens’ right to safe water.

Speaking at the opening of the 5th Africa Week of Action Against Water Privatisation in Lagos, the Assistant Executive Director of CAPPA, Zikorah Ibeh, said Lagos risks worsening water inequality by handing control of its water systems to private investors.

Ibeh commended the state government for its recent initiative to preserve wetlands, noting that wetlands play a vital role in absorbing climate shocks. 

However, she challenged the government to extend the same “policy imagination” to rebuilding and protecting public water infrastructure.

“If Lagos can preserve wetlands to build climate resilience, it can also revive public water systems. The problem is not capacity, it is political will,” she said.

Ibeh accused the Lagos State Government of being “fixated” on privatisation through public-private partnerships (PPPs), despite evidence from other countries that such models have failed. 

She said the government’s recent call for private capital to manage mini and micro waterworks in the state is a step in the wrong direction.

“Privatisation by any name, whether you call it PPP or concession, still means handing over public systems to profit-driven actors,” she said. 

“If private companies are deciding who gets access, setting tariffs, and managing facilities, that is not public control.”

She also criticised the government for signing water-related PPP deals behind closed doors, without transparent consultations with affected communities.

“Why are these agreements secret?” Ibeh asked. “Why do stakeholder engagements happen only after contracts have been signed? Lagos State must open its books and let the public see what it has committed to in the name of the people.”

Citing recent agreements with foreign firms, including a partnership with Belsak Capital, a US investment company, and a Turkish engineering firm, Ibeh called for an independent audit of all ongoing water PPPs in the state.

She further questioned the Lagos Water Corporation’s communication practices, accusing it of prioritising international media outlets like Global Water Intelligence over local stakeholders.

“Before residents even know what is happening in their communities, they must pay foreign media to read about it. That must stop. The government should speak to its people first,” she said.

Ibeh reiterated that access to water is a human right and urged Lagos State to invest in publicly owned, democratically managed water systems instead of relying on private capital.

 “Privatisation has failed in England and across the world. It will fail here too. Water is not a commodity—it is life,” she said.

The week-long event, organised by the Our Water Our Right Africa Coalition (OWORAC) in partnership with global allies, brings together civil society groups, labour unions, and community leaders across Africa to resist the commodification of water and promote public ownership as a climate-resilient solution.