...Say engagement ignores public opposition to privatization, demand public sector solutions.
By Bunmi Yekini
A coalition of water justice organizations has criticized the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) over its planned stakeholder engagement on the pilot Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative in the water sector.
In a statement dated August 8, 2025, and signed by LWC Managing Director, Engr. Muktaar Tijani, the corporation announced the event themed *”Attracting Investments for Improved Water Supply in Lagos through Public Private Partnership.”* The stated aim is to raise awareness and gather support for the sustainability of the PPP initiative.
However, three civil society organizations — the Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI), Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN), and Citizens Free Service Forum (CFSF) — say the plan flies in the face of popular opinion in Lagos, where residents have “firmly rejected” water privatization and called for public sector-driven solutions.
RDI Executive Director, Philip Jakpor, said the government is ignoring citizens’ voices.
“We have stated time and again that the major challenge militating against access to water in Lagos is the unwillingness of the state government to listen to popular opinion, which has rejected privatization and firmly supports public sector solutions to the Lagos water crisis,” he said.
“The so-called stakeholder engagement being planned by the management of LWC is not a gathering of the real stakeholders who reject the attempt of the Lagos government to be stampeded into accepting a new form of colonialism.”
EDEN Executive Director, Barrister Chima Williams, said the move signals a “stubborn determination” to push privatization.
“By coming up with the so-called stakeholder engagement to endorse the PPP plan, it would seem that the Lagos State government is determined to push through privatization despite glaring evidence of its failure across the globe — including in the UK, which Lagos once cited as a model.”
CFSF Executive Director, Comrade Sani Baba, described the initiative as “insensitive.”
“It is disturbing that the LWC is not sensitive to the implications of pressing ahead with the planned privatization of utilities built with public funds. It is adding insult to injury to want labour and civil society to endorse the handover of such utilities to for-profit-only entities. It is unacceptable.”
The groups argued that the stakeholder engagement is a “one-way discussion” with predetermined outcomes and warned Lagosians not to expect meaningful input from it.
They urged the Lagos government to drop the privatization agenda, commit to sustainable public funding of the water sector, and explore Public-Public Partnerships (PuP), a model they say has succeeded in other parts of the world.