UNILAG Don Links Water Privatisation to Inequality, Calls for Public Control of Water Systems

Professor Adelaja Odukoya

The Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos, Professor Adelaja Odutola Odukoya, has described water privatisation as a major threat to democracy, environmental justice, and human survival, warning that turning water into a profit-driven commodity deepens poverty and inequality across Africa.

Speaking at the opening of the 5th Africa Week of Action Against Water Privatisation in Lagos, Professor Odukoya said the ongoing global push to privatise water utilities is part of what he called “disaster capitalism”, a system that profits from people’s misfortunes.

“We have water kidnappers, water bandits, both local and international, whose activities compromise life,” he said. “Privatisation is wired to produce poverty, inequality, and exploitation.”

Odukoya accused international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of promoting water privatisation across Africa under the guise of efficiency and reform, despite clear evidence of failure in advanced economies.

“Even in Britain, water privatisation has been a disaster. Over a trillion litres of water were lost last year to leakages, and people are now calling for renationalisation,” he noted.

According to him, the claim that privatisation enhances service delivery is “bogus,” as the policy has only enriched corporate shareholders while neglecting the poor and worsening environmental degradation.

He argued that the climate crisis, often framed as a natural phenomenon, is deeply political and tied to the global structures of economic exploitation that shape access to essential resources like water.

“Climate disasters are not random, they follow the geography of inequality and poverty. The poorest people, especially in Africa, suffer the most,” Odukoya said.

He described water as both a democratic and collective good that must remain publicly owned, warning that policies allowing private control of water would exclude millions of low-income citizens.

“Privatisation says if you cannot pay for water, you perish. But we say water is life, it is a right, not a privilege,” he stated.

Odukoya called for a continental alliance to defend public water systems and resist foreign corporate control.

“We must deprivatise and return water to its rightful position as a public good. Governments should empower communities and workers as co-managers of water systems,” he said.

The professor emphasised that sustainable climate adaptation in Africa depends on strengthening publicly managed water systems rather than outsourcing them to private interests.

“Climate resilience is not compatible with privatisation,” he added. “Water is central to life, climate justice, and democracy. No to water privatisation.”