A day after the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) clarified the move behind its Public Private Partnership (PPP) pilot initiative announced recently to expand access of potable water in the state, the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has condemned the move to privatise water supply, describing the process as anti-people and a betrayal of residents’ right to safe, affordable, and publicly managed water.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, CAPPA dismissed a two-day advocacy workshop convened last week by LWC as a “sham public relations exercise.”

The event, themed “Attracting Investment for Improved Water Supply in Lagos through Public-Private Partnership,” featured pledges by members of the State House of Assembly to fast-track legal amendments to give investors broad protections. The state’s Office of Public-Private Partnerships described the plan as the “first concession” of water infrastructure, beginning with a pilot covering roughly 10 percent of assets.

CAPPA warned that such pronouncements reveal that “water will no longer be recognised as a human right but will instead be reduced to a financial asset securitised for the comfort of investors.”

The organisation noted that Lagos’ fixation on water privatisation is part of a long-running pattern. “For more than a decade, successive administrations have sought to hand over essential services to corporate profiteers, shifting the burden of cost and access onto already overburdened residents,” the statement said.

Responding to LWC’s claim that CAPPA declined to attend the workshop by “deliberate choice”, CAPPA said it refused to rubber-stamp a fait accompli and for good reasons which is clearly articulated in its response to the LWC.

CAPPA stated. “What was presented as a stakeholder meeting took place only after the State had already issued Request for Proposals (RFP No. LSWC/BFOT/001/2025), inviting private investors to bid for the rehabilitation, upgrade, operation, and maintenance of mini and micro waterworks under a Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (BFOT) PPP model.

“Genuine stakeholder engagement must precede, not follow, major policy and investment commitments. By inviting bids first before democratic consultation, the Lagos State Government has shown contempt for accountability and treated residents as afterthoughts.