Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has warned the Lagos State Government against plans to concession parts of the state’s public water infrastructure, arguing that the move could increase costs and undermine residents’ access to affordable water.
The organisation also opposed the expansion of prepaid water metering, saying the system could make access to the essential commodity dependent on households’ ability to pay upfront.
CAPPA’s concerns followed the Lagos State Government’s signing of a one-year Memorandum of Understanding with China Harbour Engineering Company and Naston Engineering Nigeria Limited to develop a framework for a water infrastructure programme in the Lekki Concession Area.
Under the arrangement, the first phase involves installing a transmission pipeline beneath the Lagos Lagoon into the Lekki Concession Area, while the second phase covers 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 state government and the consortium.
However, CAPPA said the project raised questions about transparency and the potential implications of private control over water 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.
CAPPA also criticised the absence of publicly available copies of the MoU, terms of reference and records of consultations with affected communities.
The group argued that concessioning public water infrastructure could undermine universal access by prioritising commercial returns over the needs of residents, particularly low-income households.
According to CAPPA, Lagos has sufficient revenue capacity to mobilise public resources, maintain existing infrastructure, expand water production and provide residents with 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.
The organisation also opposed the proposed expansion of prepaid water meters, warning that automated disconnection could leave vulnerable households without access to water when their purchased credit runs out.
“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 compared the proposed water concession with Nigeria’s experience of electricity privatisation, saying consumers have continued to face rising tariffs, metering problems, estimated billing and unreliable supply despite private-sector involvement.
It warned that a similar situation could emerge in Lagos, with public funds used to finance infrastructure while private operators control billing and revenue, leaving households to bear higher costs without guaranteed supply.
The organisation said the consequences could be more serious in the water sector because water is essential to human survival, sanitation and public health.
CAPPA also cited Akilo and Baruwa areas of Lagos, where it said prepaid water meters had been introduced and residents reported intermittent supply, delays in activating purchased units, low pressure, restricted supply periods and discrepancies between payments and the volume of water received.
In Baruwa, the organisation said some households reported spending up to N60,000 monthly on water, alongside complaints about disappearing purchased units, prolonged outages, dirty water after supply resumed and inadequate channels for resolving complaints.
CAPPA called on the Lagos State Government to suspend further steps towards concessioning the water system and halt the expansion of prepaid metering.
It also demanded the immediate publication of the CHEC-Naston MoU and urged the government to produce and disclose a fully funded plan for rehabilitating water treatment plants, pipelines, reservoirs and distribution networks.
The organisation further called for a system guaranteeing every household access to a basic quantity of water, while urging communities, labour unions, students, journalists, civil society groups and residents to demand greater accountability in the provision of basic services.
CAPPA warned that any concession agreement could bind the state for decades, potentially extending beyond the administrations that negotiate it.
While acknowledging the need for substantial investment in Lagos’ 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.
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