March against Lagos Govt’s plan to privatize state-owned water supply
In a swift and strong rebuttal of the Lagos Water Corporation’s (LWC) move toward privatizing water supply, a coalition of six civil society organisations have demanded an immediate halt to any and all privatization plans aimed at handing over water infrastructure to private interests; further petitioning the Lagos State House of Assembly.
The coalition, including Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI), Citizens Free Service Forum (CFSF), Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN), Child Health Organisation, New Life Community Care Initiative (NELCCI), and the Ecumenical Water Network Africa/Blue Communities Africa (EWNA/BCA), raised the alarm following a Stakeholders’ Engagement on the Pilot Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model hosted by LWC on August 15, 2025, with backing from WaterAid.
According to the coalition, while the event was presented as a platform for public consultation, it was actually a facade; a way to legitimize predetermined decisions on privatization that many Lagosians have historically opposed.
It would be recalled that over the course of two days, the Lagos water corporation hosted stakeholders to build consensus and understanding towards instituting the PPP model as an avenue to scale up and maintain potable water access for Lagos residents.
According to the petitioners, the PPP model is being aggressively promoted by LWC and certain legislators as the “only solution” to infrastructure funding. But the groups warn that this model puts corporate profits above public interest, and dangerously sidelines the constitutional right of Lagosians to clean and affordable water.
They expressed particular concern over statements made by Hon. Steven Ogundipe, Chairman of the House Committee on Information, who allegedly promised swift legislative support for the PPP model during the August 15 event.
The petition highlights failed privatization models globally, particularly in England and Wales, where the water sector has been plagued by mismanagement and profit extraction.
A 2024 report by the Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) at the University of Greenwich revealed that since the sector’s privatization over 30 years ago, investors have extracted £85.2 billion from just 10 water and sewage firms—money that could have gone into service improvement.
This model, often pushed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and donor institutions, is now being criticized for causing disinvestment, price hikes, and infrastructure decay—problems Lagos can ill afford.
The group pointed fingers not just at the PPP plan but at longstanding failures in oversight and transparency within the Lagos water sector.
They called on lawmakers to probe decades of public spending on water infrastructure, citing multiple questionable projects. According to them, these include:
Project/Expense —— Amount
1. Otta-Ikosi Waterworks (2007) — ₦4 billion
2. Independent Power Plant (IPP) — ₦3 billion
3. Monthly fuel cost for IPP — ₦180 million
4. Iju & Adiyan Waterworks Rehab — ₦897 million
5. Mini & Micro Waterworks Rehab — ₦789 million
6. Ishasi Waterworks Rehab — ₦2.7 billion
7. 2023 Chemical Purchase — ₦950 million
8. Advance for Liquid Alum (Oct 2023) — ₦315 million
9. 2024 Chemical Budget — ₦1.2 billion
10. Repair of chemical store gates — ₦9.5 million
The petition insists that mismanagement and lack of accountability, not lack of funding, is responsible for the poor state of water infrastructure in Lagos. “If all monies budgeted since 1999 were properly utilized, LWC would not need private sector rescue,” they said.
Clear Demands to Lawmakers
The groups issued a comprehensive list of demands to the Lagos State House of Assembly:
1. Halt all privatization plans by the LWC immediately.
2. Terminate all partnerships pushing privatization, including those with WaterAid.
3. Increase budgetary allocation to the water sector.
4. Implement strict oversight on how water funds are disbursed and used.
5. Investigate all water-related contracts and budgets from 1999 to date.
6. Blacklist and prosecute defaulting contractors
7. Recover diverted funds meant for water infrastructure.
8. Explore the Public-Public-Partnership (PuP) model as a sustainable alternative.
De Ja’vu
Indeed, this is not the first time the government has broached the PPP model for water access.
In 2014, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), an environmental advocacy group, launched a campaign ‘Our Water, Our Right,’ aimed at halting the Lagos State government’s planned privatization of water infrastructure.
Two years later, in March 2016, hundreds of women led by various civil society groups had marched against the plan of the Lagos state government to privatise the state’s water works. The government then had denied such plans, insisting the water corporation was only being reformed.
A month after the demonstrations, the International Finance Corportion (IFC) and world bank were implicated in a letter written by a United States legislator representing the state of Wisconsin, Ms Gwen Moore, to the then world bank president, Jim Yong Kim.
She strongly advocated for the IFC and World to desist from recommending privatisation of water works and infrastructures in developing countries as such models were an “improper mingling” of its advisory and investment functions.
Public Over Profit
The petition echoes a wider movement rejecting the idea that water—a basic human right—should be controlled by private entities. Advocates argue that water should remain a public good, delivered and managed by accountable public institutions, not corporations.
As Lagos continues to face growing population pressures and infrastructure strain, the coalition insists that privatization is not only a moral failure but an economic and administrative shortcut that history has proven to be costly and ineffective.
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