"ERA/FoEN Tackles Lagos State Government over Water Privatisation"

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FOEN)...has asked the Lagos State Government “to stop any form of water privatisation, including those under the public-private partnership model...” ...In a letter to the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, ERA/FoEN noted that the solutions to water problems “lie not in corporate management...but in collective investment in water infrastructure and democratic decision-making that prioritises the human rights to water over...”  According to reports the Lagos State Government had struck a deal with the International Financial Corporation (IFC)...to bring in private players...The Director, Corporate Campaigns, ERA/FoEN, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said: “In October, we launched a major campaign called ‘This is Lagos, Our Water, Our Right, No to Privatisation’...[with] state-wide, national and global mobilisation to mount pressure on those who want to hand over Lagos water to big corporations..." ...However, the Minister of Water Resources, Sarah Ochekpe,...noted that commercialisation of water services will increase the revenue base of the sector for the maintenance of facilities and development of new ones. A Gender Rights Activist, Betty Abah, also weighed in on the issue by reminding the government that women are largely affected by the scarcity of water... “Lack of water endangers women more,” she told THISDAY...