Community activists and a representative of labour organisations have urged the Lagos State Government to invest in public water infrastructure rather than rely on private operators, warning that long-term concessions and prepaid meters could make water less affordable for low-income households.
The groups spoke on Friday at a symposium in Ogba, Lagos, organised by the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) and the Our Water Our Right Africa Coalition as part of the 2026 Africa Week of Action Against Water Privatisation.
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The event was themed “No Illusions: Prepaid Water Meters and Water Privatisation Are Failed Models for Lagos, Nigeria.”
Speakers included Akinbode Oluwafemi, CAPPA’s executive director; Zikora Ibeh, the organisation’s assistant executive director; Rufus Olusesan, national president of the Precision, Electrical and Related Equipment Senior Staff Association (PERESSA); Dagar Tolar of the Movement for Socialist Alternative; and Favour John, founder and executive director of the Sustainable Futures Development Initiative (SUFDI).
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Mr Oluwafemi warned that private-sector participation did not guarantee better services and could put water beyond the reach of poorer households.
“For profiteers, control of water is becoming the new petroleum,” he said.
He argued that access to water for drinking, cooking, washing and basic hygiene should not depend solely on a household’s ability to pay.
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He argued that access to water for drinking, cooking, washing and basic hygiene should not depend solely on a household’s ability to pay.
Activists question 20-year concessions
Mr Oluwafemi called on the Lagos State Government to publish the terms of its proposed water concessions, including the financial obligations, tariff arrangements and protections available to investors.
According to information presented by CAPPA, the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) has announced a framework for standardised 20-year concessions, with cost-reflective tariffs subject to periodic reviews, foreign-exchange protections for investors and a five per cent royalty structure.
The proposed concessions cover seven water facilities in Lekki, Akilo, Victoria Island Annex, Magodo, Abesan, Alexander and Apapa.
Speaking at the event, Ms Ibeh said the corporation reported receiving 23 bids across four project lots in May but had not identified preferred bidders or published the full proposed agreements.
CAPPA said it had requested the identities of bidders, evaluation criteria, feasibility studies and award decisions in March 2026.
The group also questioned the state government’s April 2025 agreement with Belstar Capital and ENKA for water infrastructure rehabilitation and expansion. It raised concerns about the selection process, financing obligations and possible effects on tariffs.
Ms Ibeh cited a one-year memorandum of understanding signed in 2026 with China Harbour Engineering Company and Naston Engineering Nigeria Limited for a proposed water infrastructure programme within the Lekki Concession Area.
The planned works include transmission infrastructure beneath the Lagos Lagoon, distribution networks, metering and household connections.
The Lagos State Government had presented public-private partnerships as a way to attract investment, rehabilitate water infrastructure and expand access to reliable supply.
At a stakeholder engagement in August 2025, the Lagos Water Corporation said the initiative was intended to bring together public authorities, investors and development partners to improve service delivery.
Activists call for rehabilitation of waterworks
Mr Tolar said the government should address the condition of existing water infrastructure rather than rely on private-sector participation to resolve the state’s water shortages.
He stated that Lagos had major waterworks and 48 mini and micro waterworks, but their combined output was inadequate to meet demand.
Citing figures he presented at the symposium, Mr Tolar put the combined production capacity of the facilities, including the Adiyan waterworks serving Lagos and Ogun states, at about 200 million gallons daily. He estimated that Lagos needed at least 500 million gallons a day.
The figures and operational rates he cited could not be independently established from the information provided at the event.
Mr Tolar called for a comprehensive “Water for All” plan that would include rehabilitating existing facilities, building additional waterworks and using modern technology to increase production.
He said the plan should account for future population growth. He also questioned how much successive administrations had invested in water infrastructure since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999.
“No form or version of privatisation will fix the water problem in Lagos or Nigeria,” he said.
He cited electricity privatisation and private-sector participation in waste collection as examples of reforms he believed had failed to deliver the expected benefits.
Communities bear the cost of water shortages
Mr John said research into community water infrastructure in Lagos showed that residents often had to provide and maintain facilities that should serve the public.
Presenting findings from a research project on strengthening resilient public water services, he said many communities relied on water points donated by councillors, religious institutions and individuals because government facilities were unavailable or poorly maintained.
He explained that community development associations (CDAs) sometimes pooled money to buy water from tankers, pay electricity bills and repair pumps.
“In your community, for example, there’s no public water. There’s a situation whereby the CDA even organises to fund a water tanker sometimes,” he said.
Mr John cited a community where residents reportedly spent about N85,000 weekly on water, yet the supply remained insufficient.
He proposed public-community partnerships that would give residents a role in managing facilities. Women and young people, who often bear much of the burden of fetching water, should also be represented in community-level decisions.
“Water should be accessible and should be available and should be safe for every human consumption,” she said.
Labour warns of job losses
Mr Olusesan said workers had a direct stake in the proposed reforms, warning that restructuring and private-sector concessions could lead to retrenchment, casualisation and the loss of employment benefits.
He urged the government to protect workers’ rights, regularise casual staff and give trade unions representation on the boards of public water corporations.
CAPPA said the restructuring of the Lagos Water Corporation led to the disengagement of 425 contract workers in December 2023 and the dismissal of 391 permanent staff on grounds of redundancy on 15 April 2024.
The organisation and labour groups challenged the decisions, arguing that the workforce reductions weakened the capacity of a public institution responsible for providing an essential service.
The corporation, however, attributed the restructuring to a personnel audit and operational requirements, according to Ms Ibeh.
Mr Olusesan criticised what he described as the promotion of market-oriented water reforms by international financial institutions, particularly the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
He argued that policies centred on cost recovery, commercialisation and public-private partnerships could shift more of the cost of water provision to households.
Citing experiences in Ghana, Senegal and other African countries, he said private-sector management had not guaranteed affordable water for poorer communities.
The PERESSA president also proposed community water-monitoring committees to report leaks, monitor public taps and hold water authorities accountable. He advocated public-public partnerships, through which established public utilities could help improve other public water systems.
READ ALSO: Lagos govt water privatisation will deepen inequality, coalition warns
Prepaid meters raise affordability concerns
Mr Oluwafemi noted that prepaid water meters could cut off households when their credit ran out, regardless of their circumstances.
“When a meter cuts off supply because credit has expired, it cannot distinguish between leaking pipes or a family waiting for daily wages,” he said.
He stated that households facing unemployment, illness or emergencies could lose access to water when they were least able to cope with the consequences.
“A policy that recognises purchasing power but disregards essential need is discriminatory in its effects,” he noted.
Ms Ibeh said CAPPA had documented complaints from residents in Akilo and Baruwa about unreliable supply, delays in activating purchased units, low water pressure and discrepancies between payments and the water received.
She stressed that the complaints raised questions about whether advance payment necessarily guaranteed reliable service or greater accountability.
CAPPA argued that prepaid metering could not be separated from the wider debate over private-sector participation. It said residents needed to know who would control distribution, how services would be funded and whether revenue protection would take precedence over their needs.
CAPPA questions public consultation
Ms Ibeh said the Lagos State Government’s move towards private-sector participation in water provision predated the current management of the Lagos Water Corporation but had gathered momentum through restructuring, procurement exercises and investment agreements.
She stated that CAPPA had challenged the direction since at least April 2023, when it questioned the privatisation implications of a December 2021 memorandum of understanding between the corporation and the United States Agency for International Development.
She also cited partnerships involving the Resilient Water Accelerator, WaterAid, Arup and the Global Development Incubator as part of efforts to attract investment into the state’s water sector.
Ms Ibeh questioned a stakeholder workshop convened by the corporation in August 2025 to discuss private investment in water supply.
According to her, the corporation had already invited proposals under procurement reference LSWC/BFOT/001/2025 for the rehabilitation, upgrading, operation and maintenance of mini and micro waterworks under a Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer arrangement.
The submission deadline was 28 August 2025.
CAPPA described the workshop as a sham consultation, arguing that residents were being asked to discuss a policy that had already advanced through procurement rather than being given a meaningful opportunity to influence the choice of service-delivery model.
The organisation called for greater transparency in procurement and meaningful consultation with affected communities before decisions with long-term consequences were made.
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