Our Water Our Right Challenges Lagos State Govt.
OUR Water Our Right Coalition has challenged Lagos State government to make public details of its multiple public private partnership, PPP, contracts on water projects, which it alleged were introduced “through the backdoor.”
From left- Executive Director, Labour, Health and Human Rights Development Centre, Mr. Ayodele Akele; Deputy Director, Environmental Rights Action, Friends of the Earth, Nigeria, ERA/FoEN, Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi, and Lagos State Chairmam of Amalgamated Union of Public, Corporation, Technical, Recreational Employees, AUPCTRE, Mr. Opaleye Taiwo, at the briefing by Our Water Our Right Coalition on Lagos State POP water project.
The Coalition said:
“If these projects should move forward it will translate to private control of
over 57 percent of the entire Lagos water system capacity. “We demand full
disclosure of the PPP projects in the water sector and a halt to the projects;
disclosure of all International Finance Corporation and World Bank activities
and discussions with Lagos State government officials regarding water;
both formal and informal advisory roles. “We call for broad public
participation in developing plans to achieve universal access to clean water
and the need for the state government to hearken to our demands that it upholds
the human right to water as an obligation of the government representing the
people.” Speaking at a briefing in Lagos, Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi, Deputy
Director, Environmental Rights Action, ERA, an environmental rights group, and
part of the Coalition, said that Global Water Intelligence, GWI, magazine,
“a high value business information for the water industry, disclosed that
multiple PPP projects are in the works for Lagos water sector.” Noting that
officials of the state government and the website of Lagos Water Corporation
has no information on the projects, Oluwafemi said if previous PPP
projects such as the waste disposal one failed, it does not make administrative
sense to enter into such arrangements on multiple projects at once. According
to him, “some of the identified projects — Adiyan II, Igbonla, Yewa I, Odomola
II, Ibeshe I, Ibeshe II and Yewa II— have project lengths of up to 35 years and
were only updated on GWI tracker a week after the World Bank executives visited
Governor Akinwumi Ambode on May 9 and Engineer Mumuni Badmus, the helmsman of
the Lagos Water Corporation is listed as the contact person.” Also speaking,
Mr. Opaleye Taiwo, Lagos State Chairmam of Amalgamated Union of Public,
Corporation, Technical, Recreational Employees, AUPCTRE, noted that
privatisation has not helped the water situation in the state. He pointed out
that after several failed attempts, with contractors abandoning projects
and agreements reached, only five of the 12 pumps at Iju Waterworks function
epeileptically. Other members of the coalition are Corporate Accountability;
Public Service International, PSI; Africa Women Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Network, AWWASHNET, and Labour, Health and Human Rights Development Centre.
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