Lagos water concession, prepaid meters’ll deepen hardship — CAPPA

… Demands publication of CHEC-Naston MoU, suspension of prepaid metering
By Chioma Obinna

Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, CAPPA, has warned the Lagos State Government against moves to concession parts of the state’s public water infrastructure, saying the policy could deepen hardship for residents and undermine access to affordable and reliable water.

CAPPA’s warning followed the state government’s signing of a one-year Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with China Harbour Engineering Company, CHEC, and Naston Engineering Nigeria Limited to scope and define components of a water infrastructure programme within the Lekki Concession Area.

Under the arrangement, the first phase will involve the installation of a transmission pipeline beneath the Lagos Lagoon into the Lekki Concession Area, while the second phase will cover downstream distribution, metering and last-mile connections.

The engagement is expected to produce a technical report and implementation framework for a possible concession agreement between the Lagos State Government and the consortium.

But CAPPA said the development raises serious concerns about the future of public water supply in the state, particularly the possibility of private control over distribution, tariffs, metering and household access.

“There is no publicly accessible record showing the project’s full scope, how the consortium was selected, what obligations the companies have assumed, or how residents have participated in its development.
“The government is already discussing tariffs and a concession while the public remains shut out,” the organisation said.

The group also faulted the lack of publicly accessible copies of the MoU, terms of reference and records of consultations with affected communities.

CAPPA maintained that beyond the transparency concerns, concessioning water infrastructure could undermine the principle of universal access by placing commercial profitability above the needs of residents, particularly low-income households.

The organisation argued that Lagos, with its substantial revenue base, has the capacity and responsibility to mobilise public resources, maintain existing infrastructure, expand water production and guarantee access to safe and affordable water.

“The problem is that successive administrations have failed to fund, maintain, and expand the system at the scale Lagos requires.

“Allowing a public institution to deteriorate and then presenting private control as its rescue is dishonest. It is an abdication of responsibility,” CAPPA’s Water Programme Officer, Holiness Segun-Olufemi, said.

CAPPA also kicked against the planned expansion of prepaid water meters, warning that the system could make access to water dependent on a household’s ability to pay upfront.

Unlike conventional postpaid metering, prepaid systems automatically cut off supply when purchased credit is exhausted.

“For a resource essential to human life, sanitation, and public health, automated disconnections are fundamentally exclusionary and set to worsen the lives of vulnerable groups and low-income earners,” Segun-Olufemi said.

CAPPA drew parallels between the proposed water concession and Nigeria’s experience with electricity privatisation, arguing that consumers have continued to face rising tariffs, metering challenges, estimated billing and unreliable supply despite the transfer of major parts of the electricity sector to private operators.

It warned that Lagos could reproduce similar problems in the water sector, with public funds financing infrastructure while private operators control billing and revenue and households bear rising costs without guaranteed supply.

The organisation said the consequences could be more severe in the water sector because, unlike electricity, water is indispensable to human survival, sanitation and public health.

CAPPA cited experiences in Akilo and Baruwa areas of Lagos where prepaid water meters have reportedly been introduced.

According to the group, residents complained of intermittent supply, delays in activating purchased units, low pressure, restricted supply periods and discrepancies between payments and volumes of water received.

In Baruwa, CAPPA said some households reported spending as much as N60,000 monthly on water, while also alleging sudden disappearance of purchased units, prolonged outages, dirty water when supply resumed and inadequate complaint mechanisms.

CAPPA therefore called on the Lagos State Government to halt further steps towards concessioning the water system and suspend expansion of prepaid metering.

It demanded the immediate publication of the CHEC-Naston MoU and urged the government to develop and publicly disclose a fully funded plan for rehabilitating treatment plants, pipelines, reservoirs and distribution networks.

The organisation also called for a system that guarantees every household access to a basic quantity of water.

It urged communities, labour unions, students, journalists, civil society organisations and residents to demand accountability from the government on the provision of basic amenities.

CAPPA warned that any concession agreement could bind Lagos for decades, potentially outlasting the administrations that negotiated it.

While acknowledging the urgent need for massive investment in the state’s water infrastructure, the organisation said such investment should strengthen the Lagos Water Corporation and expand public capacity rather than create another avenue for private profit from an essential service.