The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has faulted the Lagos State Government’s plan to privatise water supply through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, describing the initiative as anti-people and a betrayal of residents’ right to safe and affordable water.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, CAPPA dismissed a two-day advocacy workshop organised by the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) to promote the PPP agenda as a “sham public relations exercise.”
The workshop, themed “Attracting Investment for Improved Water Supply in Lagos State through Public-Private Partnership,” featured commitments from members of the State House of Assembly to fast-track legal amendments granting investors broad protections.
According to the Office of Public-Private Partnerships, the plan marks the “first concession” of water infrastructure, beginning with a pilot covering about 10 per cent of assets.
But CAPPA warned that privatisation would strip water of its recognition as a human right. “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 stated.
The organisation accused successive Lagos administrations of a long-running push to hand over essential services to private companies at the expense of residents. CAPPA also criticised LWC Managing Director Mukhtaar Tijani’s claim that the group “deliberately” declined to participate in the workshop.
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“Yes, we refused to rubber-stamp a fait accompli and for good reasons,” said Akinbode Oluwafemi, CAPPA’s Executive Director. “What was presented as a stakeholder meeting was convened only after the State had already invited private investors to bid under a Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (BFOT) PPP model. Genuine engagement must precede, not follow, such commitments.”
The group further pointed to previous opaque agreements, including Memorandum of Understanding with US-based Belstar Capital and Turkish firm ENKA in April, as examples of Lagos’s sidelining of public input. CAPPA also recalled the launch of the Lagos Water Partnership in 2024, which it described as a “tokenistic box-ticking exercise.”
Rejecting Tijani’s argument that PPP “is not privatisation,” CAPPA stressed that concessions, leases, and management contracts equally amount to privatisation. It cited the dismissal of more than 800 LWC workers last year as evidence of the risks posed by the PPP model.
The group also challenged claims of PPP successes in Rwanda, South Africa, Morocco, Uganda, Malawi, and Egypt, noting instead that losses, disputes, or outright collapse marred most projects. CAPPA referenced the United Kingdom’s privatised water system, which it said has produced “soaring bills, sewage spills, and poor accountability.”
“Cities like Paris, Berlin, Buenos Aires, and Jakarta have already reversed course after failed experiments with privatisation. Lagos is wilfully choosing to repeat mistakes others are undoing,” CAPPA warned.
As alternatives, the organisation called for increased budgetary allocation to water infrastructure, public-private partnerships, and reforms that prioritise workers and communities. It urged the Lagos State Government to withdraw its current Request for Proposals, disclose all agreements with private investors, and open genuine dialogue on sustainable, publicly controlled solutions to the state’s water crisis.
