CAPPA slams Lagos Govt over alleged violations, secrecy in water privatisation process

Stanley Ihedigbo

Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has condemned what it described as persistent secrecy and serious procedural breaches in the ongoing procurement of mini and micro waterworks by the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) under a Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (BFOT) Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

In a press statement signed by Media and Communications Officer, CAPPA, Robert Egbe, the organisation accused the Lagos State Government of deliberately withholding critical information from the public in contravention of the Lagos State PPP Disclosure Framework (2024), which mandates proactive transparency at every stage of PPP projects.

According to CAPPA, the LWC had, in September last year, invited private firms to submit proposals for the rehabilitation, upgrade, operation, and maintenance of several public water facilities across the state. The affected waterworks reportedly include facilities in Lekki and Akilo, Victoria Island Annex and Magodo, Abesan and Alexander, as well as Apapa.
However, the group alleged that since the commencement of the procurement process, none of the statutory disclosure requirements outlined in the PPP Framework has been met.

CAPPA noted that the Framework expressly requires that feasibility studies, Requests for Proposals (RFPs), lists of bidders, evaluation criteria, fiscal risk assessments, procurement timelines, and contract summaries be proactively published on a public portal without the need for Freedom of Information requests.

The organisation lamented that no such documentation has been made publicly available on the Lagos PPP disclosure portal managed by the Office of Public-Private Partnerships (OPPP), the statutory body responsible for ensuring transparency across all PPP projects in the state.

It further observed that full RFP details were withheld from stakeholders and communities directly affected by the proposed concessions, while the identities of bidders, evaluation benchmarks, award decisions, and procurement milestones remain undisclosed.

CAPPA described as “deeply troubling” the fact that the only substantive information about the procurement so far surfaced through a foreign, subscription-based industry publication, Global Water Intelligence, which reportedly disclosed that the LWC received 19 proposals by October 2025 and was expected to conclude awards by March 2026 for a 10-year deal.

The organisation also revealed that it had learned, again through foreign media reports, that the state government had initiated a parallel process to privatise wastewater infrastructure, beginning with wastewater treatment plants, including facilities in Lekki.

“It is disturbing that residents of Lagos must rely on an expensive foreign journal to obtain information about decisions concerning their own public water and sanitation systems, while their government refuses to disclose the same information domestically,” CAPPA stated.

The group argued that the secrecy surrounding the mini and micro waterworks PPP constitutes a substantive governance failure with far-reaching implications for affordability, access, fiscal sustainability, and long-term public control of water services.

Citing global experiences, CAPPA warned that PPP arrangements in the water sector often result in tariff increases, reduced public oversight, and long-term fiscal risks without delivering sustained infrastructure improvements.

The organisation therefore called on the Lagos State Government to immediately suspend the ongoing procurement process until full compliance with statutory disclosure obligations is achieved. It also demanded the immediate publication of all outstanding procurement documents, including feasibility studies, RFP documents, bidder identities and track records, and evaluation criteria.

In addition, CAPPA urged the state government to institute independent oversight mechanisms to safeguard procedural integrity and protect the public interest. It emphasised the need for genuine public engagement and stakeholder consultation in decisions concerning water governance and infrastructure management.

“Transparency obligations in water governance are statutory. The Lagos State Government cannot claim adherence to PPP disclosure standards while conducting one of its most consequential water infrastructure procurements in secrecy. Compliance with the law is the minimum condition for legitimate governance of public resources,” the statement read.

Reaffirming its position, CAPPA maintained that publicly financed and democratically governed water systems remain the most equitable and accountable model for delivering essential services. It called on the state to strengthen public institutions by increasing public funding for water infrastructure, reinvesting sector revenues into maintenance and expansion, and prioritising universal access over commercialisation.

The organisation concluded by urging residents, civil society groups, labour unions, and other stakeholders to remain vigilant and actively defend transparency, accountability, and public interest in water governance decisions affecting millions of Lagosians.