Groups write World Bank, demands clarification of its role in Lagos water sector

The our water our right coalition has written to the World Bank asking it to clarify its role in plans by the Lagos state government to go on with the “opposed” public private partnerships (PPPs) in the water sector.

The letter, which was signed by at least nine groups, was addressed to Joaquim Levy, the bank’s managing director and chief financial officer.

A statement issued by Philip Jakpor, spokesman of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, one of the signatories, said the letter specifically asked the bank three questions:

“First, what water infrastructure initiatives the bank and its institutions like the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Development Association (IDA), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are supporting, planning to support, or considering supporting in Lagos?

“What are the World Bank plans to seek meaningful input from civil society on any meaningful initiative that will solve the Lagos water crisis? And how is the bank planning to institute and maintain meaningful transparency policies to ensure all Lagosians can understand it’s efforts in the state?”

Signatories to the letter are the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Corporate Accountability International, Child Health Organisation, Citizen’s Trust Advocacy and Development Centre, Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Peace and Development Project (PEDEP), Women Environmental Programme (WEP), Climate Aid Initiative, and Public Services International, among others.

The group drew the attention of the global organisation to issues raised last December by Léo Heller, UN special rapporteur, concerning “lack of transparency in Lagos water policy.”

They quoted Heller as saying: “For more than a decade, the government has adopted a hard-line policy according to which the solution would seem to [be] only [to] attract private capital, notably via public-private partnerships (PPPs).

“Numerous civil society groups have urged the government to guarantee their right to participate in these processes.”

The groups said the fact that the World Bank has promoted water privatisation, including PPPs, in Lagos and that Levy recently visited the state deputy governor suggests that the bank “may once again be supporting deeply unpopular water infrastructure PPPs and other privatization plans in Lagos”.