http://www.nigeriancurrent.com/ck89-opinion/our-public-water-supply-must-work

Our Public Water Supply Must Work

By Tunji Buhari

Water, it is said, is a free gift of nature. Soon, this may not be the case if plans by the Lagos State Government in collaboration with International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private arm of World Bank, succeed.
Though there have been side denials, there are rumours that the Lagos state government is in talks with the IFC to privatise water supply in Lagos under a so-called Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
The PPP, as experts know, is another form of privatization. The implication is that our right to water as Lagosians will be tied to the privatizers who are only interested in profits.

The planned privatization of Lagos water will not only cause hardship for over 21 million people that it targets and violates their human right to water, but will also result in hike in prices, water shut-offs and low quality water. For water sector workers, it will also mean job losses. Water privatisation has proved to be a failure in some countries where it was introduced. For example, in Manila, Philippines, India and Indonesia. Of recent in Indonesia, a court ruled against an 18-year old World Bank water contract insisting it violated the country’s constitution. In Manila, the strong push to curb the corporate appetite for profits is on-going and in India, the privatization has led to unemployment, poor water quality, etc

In their quest for profits, some of the privatizers have made us believe that public water is not safe for consumption because the source is unhealthy and unwholesome and therefore it promotes bottled water. It is not surprising therefore that in our local restaurants today, bottled water is the order.

We only need to take a cue from the privatization of power sector which has not translated into more hours of electricity to understand what lies ahead. Today consumers pay monthly charges for what they do not consume. It is very clear that privatisation will continue to enrich the big corporations and enslave the people.

The biggest puzzle is that under the administration of Governor Raji Fashola, he kept citizens in the dark regarding the contract of the so-called PPP with the World Bank. A visit to the Ijora Lagos Water Corporation Office to get any information on the involvement of the state in the water privatization is always met with conflicting statements.
The campaign by civil society groups to unravel the mystery around the PPP deal with the IFC is still yet to produce result as a result of the lockup of the LSWC.

It could be said that transparency in allowing Lagosians access to vital information on the deal is not considered an important factor by the promoters of this initiative. Could it be that the Lagos State government is hiding something from the public?

This is the same poser that a coalition led by the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Nigeria Labour Congress and AUCPTRE put before former governor Fashola before he left office. There was no response from him.

We need to remind the incumbent Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode not to forget his electioneering campaign promise that he will not support water privatisation in the state. What the average Lagosian supports is making our public water supply system work.