CSOs reject water privatisation, seek investment to tackle climate crisis
Civil society organisations across Africa, under the platform of the Our Water Our Right Africa Coalition (OWORAC) have kicked against corporate takeover of public water systems and demanded governments invest in publicly owned, climate-resilient water infrastructure.
The CSOs made the demand at the kick-off of the 5th Africa Week of Action Against Water Privatisation.
The theme of this year’s observance is “Public Water for Climate Resilience”.
The event, which began at the headquarters of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, CAPPA, in Lagos, was organised in partnership with the Africa Make Big Polluters Pay Coalition..
The coalition, comprising civil society groups, trade unions, and community networks from more than 12 African countries, pointed out that the campaign aims to expose the dangers of privatisation and push for equitable, sustainable, and publicly managed water systems.
Addressing newsmen, Sefa Ikpa, Programme Officer, Water Campaign, CAPPA, said it was imperative that water must remain a public good and a human right, not a commodity for profit.
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She lamented that governments policies had made water unaccessible for thousands of people within Nigeria and the larger African countries, stressing that many people living in remote and rural communities of the continent still drink water from unhealthy and imaginable sources.
She warned that the increasing push by African Governments to privatise water, often encouraged by international financial institutions, was deepening inequality and threatening access for low-income communities.
According to Ikpa, Climate resilience will not be achieved through privatisation schemes that entrench exclusion. It will be built through strong, transparent, and publicly accountable systems that guarantee access to water for all.
“The climate crisis must not be turned into a pretext for water privatisation. Public water systems, when adequately financed and democratically managed, are the backbone of climate resilience.”
Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), said that the United Nations had adopted a historical resolution recognising the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights, noting that this right is under threat in Africa by continued privatisation of water.
According to him, at a time when we need stronger, publicly accountable systems to guarantee universal access, we are seeing growing pressure to privatise our water systems and hand control of this essential resource to profit-driven corporations despite overwhelming public opposition.
