World Water Day: CSOs protest against planned privatisation of water in Lagos

Civil society groups under the aegis of Joint Action Front, on Thursday, stormed Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja in protest against the purported plan by the state government to privatize the State Water Corporation, through the installation of water metering facilities in homes, factories and offices.

The protest was staged to mark the World Water Day with the theme, Nature of Water.

Mr Achike Chude, who spoke on behalf of the protesters, accused the state government of attempting to sneak a water privatization arrangement into the state’s environmental law.

He warned that it would amount to making life unbearable for residents of the state if what was in the environmental law was implemented.

Also speaking, a representative of the African Women Wash Net, Mrs Fehintola Macauley-Odumosu, warned that any attempt by the state to replicate the Visionscape waste management arrangement in the water sector would be strongly resisted by the masses in the state.

The Senior Special Adviser to the Governor of Lagos on Community Mobilization, Mr Abdulkarim Olashiru, has, however, promised to convey the group’s message to the Governor on his return from an official trip to Japan.