By Agbonkhese Oboh
A coalition for water justice has insisted that Lagos Water Corporation, LWC, must convene a genuine broad-based meeting of all stakeholders over the proposed pilot Public-Private Partnership, PPP, scheme for seven (7) mini- and micro-waterworks in the state.
The coalition comprises the Renevlyn Development Initiative, RDI; Citizens Free Service Forum, CFSF; Environmental Defenders Network, EDEN; Child Health Organisation, CHO; Ecumenical Water Network Africa/Blue Communities Africa, EWNA/BCA, and New Life Community Care Initiative, NELCCI.
According to them, a broad-based stakeholders’ meeting on the water crisis in the state will explore likely solutions, including the proposed PPP.
But when a Thursday, September 18 meeting was fixed, the coalition observed that the stated objectives of the meeting do not address the concerns they raised at a September 9 meeting with the Lagos House of Assembly “where we expressed disinterest in the PPP as the silver bullet to the Lagos water crisis.”
So they rejected the meeting.
However, another group of CSOs went ahead with the meeting with the leadership of the LWC, at the Water House, Ijora headquarters of the corporation.
They endorsed the privatisation scheme at the meeting addressed by the Managing Director of LWC, Engr. Mukhtaar Tijani, who stressed that the primary goal of the PPP initiative is to ensure effective and sustainable service delivery to residents across the state.
Coalition kick
In a letter reiterating their position on PPP scheme for water in Lagos, the coalition said their call for a genuine stakeholder engagement with a wide spectrum of stakeholders, “where options for addressing the water crisis including the PPP model can be discussed with a view to adopting democratic control of water” was non-negotiable.
In the letter addressed to Engr. Tijani, the coalition said: “Recall that the Chair of the (Lagos Assembly) Committee on Environment (Parastatal), Shabi Rasheed Adekola, at the meeting, mentioned the deficit in stakeholder consultation and the need to address it.
“In doing that, we anticipated an open-ended meeting, not a closed space which this proposed meeting represents.
“In view of the above we respectfully decline this invitation and urge the LWC management to heed the advice of the House by convening a truly people-focused consultation where civil society and other stakeholders in Lagos can express their views and make propositions.”
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