LAGOS WATER SECTOR REFORMS DEVOID OF TRANSPARENCY

          LAGOS WATER SECTOR REFORMS DEVOID OF TRANSPARENCY 

BEING A TEXT OF A SPEECH BY AKINBODE OLUWAFEMI, DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS ACTION /FRIENDS OF THE EARTH NIGERIA AT A PRESS CONFERENCE TOUPDATE THE MEDIA ON CURRENT HAPPENINGS IN THE LAGOS STATE WATER SECTOR courtesy of Concise News

Gentlemen and ladies of the Press,

We appreciate your presence here and use this opportunity to again commend you for your incisive reports that have helped Lagos residents grasp the dangers inherent in privatization of water under any guise.

We cannot fail to mention the crucial roles you have played in exposing the myth behind water privatisation as well as the spotlight you have sustained on the grassroots resistance to these initiatives which some months ago forced the Lagos government to roll back of sections of the Lagos Environment Law deemed “anti-people.” We commend you and urge you to continue on this noble path.

You can recall that we noted at that time that the Lagos State government’s decision to expunge the anti-people sections of the law was not enough cause for advocates to shout Hallelujah. Five months on, wehave cause to raise the alarm again as we have learnt thestate government is now aggressively pushing towards the Public Private Partnership in the water sectorwith the active support and direction of the World Bankand companies remotely linked to it.

Invasion of water multinationals

In recent months we have learnt that the Lagos government has penciled Veolia, Metito and the Spanish company – Abengoa to take control of Adiyan II— which will supply water to millions of Lagosians despite their track record of abuse around the world. We wonder how the Lagos state got to its decision.

We can lay the facts bare. Let us start with Veolia. Veolia is a French multinational corporation adjudged the world’s largest water privatizer  who has mismanaged several  water systems across the globe. It mismanaged water systems in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, when a water treatment chemical key to preventing lead contamination was switched without the required approval as a cost-cutting measure. Now in Pittsburgh lead levels are dangerously elevated, threatening residents with lead poisoning while Veolia walked away with USD $11 million.

Veolia is also implicated in the Flint water crisis in Michigan where residents continue to grapple with a notorious lead contamination crisis. There, Veolia erroneously told city officials that the water was safe, leaving thousands of children vulnerable to  lead poisoning. In Paris, water tariffs under Veolia purview were 25-30% higher than appropriate. Paris took back control of its water from Veolia in 2010 and put it back under public control. Veolia created a water crisis in Nagpur, India and is currently under investigation in France and Romania on suspicions it bribed officials more than €12 million to secure contracts in Bucharest.

Lets move to Metito. Metito is owned in part by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC)—which is itself discussing Lagos infrastructure with the Lagos government.  A deal with Metito would benefit Metito’s owners—including the IFC—not Lagos. In a glaring conflict of interest, the World Bank simultaneously held investments in Metito and advised government officials to contract with Metito for the privatization of Kigali’s water system under a 27-year PPP. 

Metito in Lagos will repeat this. Metito also has issues with labour unions. After coming into operation as a private company in Kigali, Metito embarked on a restructuring exercise in the water sector. This led to hundreds of job losses for workers who were members of the water union. Upon hiring new workers it did not allow the employees to join the union and also refused any dealings with laid-off leaders of the union. It also sponsored a yellow union within the water sector and these activities combined crippled the water union in Kigali.

Abengoa is not without issues too. This Spanish multinational was one of the corporations behind Bolivian privatization scheme that sparked widespread protests known as the “Cochabamba Water War.” 

It is in the public domain that the World Bank pressured the Bolivian government to privatize Cochabamba’s water system by making it a condition for receiving a loan extension in the late 1990s. The privatization deal sparked protests that captured the world’s attention and exposed the danger of turning over control of water to profit-driven corporations.

After months of protesters taking to the streets, the Bolivian government was forced to terminate the disastrous privatization contract.

Friends, with companies with such track record in cahoots with the Lagos government it is evident that the Lagos government is deliberately walking into a trap that will enslave Lagos citizens for generations.

Still on PPP

Our consternation has been heightened following a radio interview by the Managing Director of the Lagos State Water Corporation (LSWC), Engr Mumuni Badmus,where he revealed that the state government was already in a PPP arrangement with the World Bank to supply water meters to 18,000 Lagos homes for a start. Evidently, the state government is disregarding Lagos citizens who have overwhelmingly rejected privatisation in any guise.

A public notice sprang on Lagosians last week that water meters are ready for installation in Lekki, Victoria Island, Yaba, Surulere and some other locations in Lagos confirmed the state government pressing ahead despite popular opposition to this slide to corporate capture of our water.

We reject secrecy in Lagos water sector

Wesimply rejectall the drama, secrecy and lack of transparency of the Lagos government and its World Bank partner in respect to guaranteeing our fundamental right to a fee gift of nature.

Lagos has the biggest economy among all the states in Nigeria. The internally generated revenue of the state is over N50 billion monthly  if projections by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is anything to go by. If Lagos has reasonably tackled the issue of security with a Trust Fund, how come it views water outside the realm of a right to Lagosians and would rather squeeze the people and foist a failed system on them?

The promoters of water privatization have often asked us the way out of the Lagos water crisis and our response has always been that Lagos needs an effective, transparent and equitable tax system that especially ensures that the richest and the corporations pay their fair share.

We have also demanded an innovative taxation on big corporations that use large amounts of water in their operations. The breweries, bottling corporations, manufacturing industries, and other high volume water businesses operating in Lagos should pay more in taxes and levies to fund the water sector.

The Our Water Our Right coalition is demanding that the Lagos government listen to the people.

                                                                                                                               SPECIFIC ASKS

1.       The Lagos State governmentstop any deal with the World Bank and corporations allied to it directly or remotely including Veolia, Metito and Abengoa.

2.       Make public and revoke agreements or MOUs entered into with Veolia, Metito, Abengoa and other corporations hell-bent on foisting PPP water privatization on Lagos citizens.

3.       Increase in budgetary allocation to the water sector within the framework of public and democratically-controlled systems

4.       Allow transparency and meaningful civil society engagement in the water reform process, by providing a timeline for water sector reforms like the Adiyan II waterworks and consulting with Lagosians—not pro-corporate institutions like The World Bank—on the best way out of our current water crisis.