CAPPA Criticises Lagos PPP Water Plans, Reaffirms Opposition to Privatisation

From Dooshima Terkura, Makurdi

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) arrangement, describing it as anti-people and a violation of residents’ right to safe, affordable, and publicly managed water.

In a statement signed by its Media and Communication Officer, Robert Egbe, CAPPA questioned why Lagos insists on adopting a privatisation model that has failed in every country where it was tried.

The organisation dismissed a two-day advocacy workshop recently organised by the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) to promote the PPP agenda as nothing more than a “public relations exercise.”

The workshop, themed “Attracting Investment for Improved Water Supply in Lagos State through Public-Private Partnership,” featured pledges from lawmakers to fast-track legal changes that would secure investor interests. The Office of Public-Private Partnerships also described the project as the state’s “first concession” of water infrastructure, beginning with a pilot covering about 10 percent of assets.

CAPPA warned that such moves reveal what privatisation means for Lagosians: “Water will no longer be treated as a human right but reduced to a financial asset for investors.”

The group stressed that Lagos’ push for privatisation was not new but part of a decade-long trend of shifting essential services to corporate profiteers at the expense of residents.

Responding to LWC Managing Director Mukhtaar Tijani’s claim that CAPPA deliberately declined to attend the workshop, the organisation said its refusal was deliberate because the so-called consultation was staged after the government had already issued a Request for Proposals (RFP No. LSWC/BFOT/001/2025) for private investors.

“True stakeholder engagement must come before—not after—major policy and investment commitments,” CAPPA argued.

Executive Director of CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said:

> “We reject both the process and its premise. The privatisation of Lagos water is a step in the wrong direction, and we refuse to legitimise an outcome designed to undermine public interest.”

The group also recalled that in April 2025, the state signed an MoU with US-based Belstar Capital and Turkish firm ENKA for water projects without disclosing contract details, feasibility studies, or environmental safeguards. Similarly, in June 2024, Lagos launched the Lagos Water Partnership (LWP)—which CAPPA described as another “tokenistic engagement”—even though contracts had already been signed with the Resilient Water Accelerator (RWA).

On Tijani’s insistence that PPP “is not privatisation,” CAPPA countered that privatisation includes concessions, leases, management contracts, and Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (BFOT) arrangements—all of which Lagos is pursuing. It pointed to the mass sack of 800 LWC workers last year as proof of the dangers of such models.

The group also debunked claims of PPP “success stories” in Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Morocco, Egypt, and Malawi, insisting that these cases were marked by failures, corruption, tariff hikes, and public opposition. It further cited the United Kingdom’s water privatisation, which resulted in higher bills, poor service, and environmental damage, as another warning sign.

“Globally, cities like Paris, Berlin, Buenos Aires, and Jakarta have reversed privatisation after experiencing higher costs, job losses, and service decline. Lagos should learn from these lessons instead of repeating past mistakes,” CAPPA stated.

As an alternative, the organisation urged Lagos to embrace remunicipalisation—strengthening public control, building capacity within LWC, and ensuring participatory reforms that prioritise communities and workers.

It demanded that the government immediately halt the ongoing PPP scheme, withdraw the current RFP, disclose all agreements with private firms, and open genuine dialogue on sustainable, publicly controlled solutions to the water crisis.