By Nkasiobi Oluikpe Correspondent, Lagos
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has endeared himself to most residents of the state with some of his populist policies since 2007. This was highlighted during the 2011 general elections, when he won the poll convincingly for a second term.
During the 2011 governorship election, voters chose Fashola over his party such that if he had contested on the platform of just about any other party, he would have won, easily.
This must have informed the reason why his proposed successor on the platform of his party, the All Progressives Congress has decided to ride on the back of Fashola’s success by inscribing on some of his campaign posters: “Lagos is working, let the good works continue.”
Be that as it may, Lagos as a whole was taken aback last week when a protest march took place from Ikeja Bus Stop, through Awolowo Way to Alausa, the seat of government.
The crowd constituted the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Environmental Rights Action (ERA), Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) and some other civil service organisations. They put together the rally to protest a bill, which was allegedly passed to the Lagos State House of Assembly, on the privatisation of the Lagos State Water Corporation (LSWC) and the ban on boreholes in the state.
This proposal has met with a lot of criticism, as the people of Lagos have said they could not envisage such a ‘parting gift’ from Fashola.
Considering that laws are supposed to safeguard the common good of the majority of the people, not to quench the insatiable thirst of some greedy few, the residents are concerned that the privatisation of the water corporation would lead to more hardship for the masses, while the institution ends up in the hands of people with no interest of the masses at heart, whose primary objective is to make profit.
There are complaints that, presently, those who have access to pipe-borne water (18 per cent of the state’s population, according to a recent report) are barely able to cope with the bills, so, if water is privatised, the cost would hit the roof and make water unaffordable to ordinary people.
In the case of Mr. and Mrs. Ade, who live in Oregun, before the installation of a water metre in their two-room mini-flat, they were paying about N1,000 as monthly as water rate, but after the installation of a new water metre, they now buy recharge card at the cost of between N2,500 to N3,000 per month while the LSWC is still under government control. In addition, for over six months, the metre in the Ades’ home has packed up. Their attempts to get the water corporation to repair it have been fruitless. They were asked to apply for a replacement, and for over six months they have been visiting LSWC office to no avail.
If piped water is only available to 18 per cent of resident of Lagos, presently, it implies that the remaining 82 per cent patronise other sources of water such as wells and boreholes.
So the question is, what would be the fate of the 82 per cent who do not have piped water, should the Lagos State government go ahead with its plan to ban boreholes?
Moreover, it is common knowledge that the privatisation of government entities in Nigeria is fraught with hitches, with the likelihood of failing. Examples abound of failed privatisation efforts such as Ajaokuta Steel Company, Daily Times Nigeria, Delta Steel and many others.
The Lagos State government is said to be pushing for the privatisation of LSWC in a move to check the incidents of water-borne diseases as well as the environmental damage caused by borehole drillers, but many residents think otherwise.
On the issue of water-borne diseases, a resident who preferred anonymity claimed that he does not know of anybody who drinks water supplied by the water works directly from the pipes.
“Most of those pipes you see pass through the dirty gutters along the road and a good number of them are leaking. You know that, sometimes, when there is no light for a long period, water also does not run. What happens to the pipes running through the gutters when there is no water inside of them?
“It is only a fool that will buy that idea. To be honest with you, the water from those boreholes they are now talking about is more hygienic and healthier than the ones running through pipes in the gutters.
“Where I lived previously, we had state-supplied tap water but I never used it to wash white clothes or even cook. Most times, the water even smelled,” he said.
For certain reasons, the water from the state water works is usually not reliable. This has made most accommodation seekers to avoid any house that depends solely on LSWC for water. So, with this new law, there is the possibility that more complications would come into the matter of accessing potable water.
Many have argued that the proposed law is like saying because generators make noise or produce fumes, they should be banned. In the same way that the ban of generators in Nigeria would lead to the total collapse of the system, a ban on drilling boreholes would subject the average Lagos resident to untold hardship.
Another resident simply known as Kola noted that, in other climes, privatising the water corporation would not be a bad idea but in Nigeria it may not work. Kola stated that the buyer might not be buying it because he wants to supply water to Lagosians but because of selfish interests.
Kola said: “What happened to the old water works of the 1970s? There used to be public water supply everywhere in Lagos State, until the Nigerian factor set in. This same Nigerian factor will see them selling the corporation to themselves for selfish reasons.
“Mind you, also remember that this same water will be powered by PHCN. If there is no electricity, what happens? It just can’t work.”
Samuel Akinrosotu, a landlord in Iju area of Lagos, recounted that before 1999, when the state government undertook a World Bank project, there used to be water in his area. But ever since, the pipes in his area were destroyed with a promise to replace them, and till date it has not been done.
“So, even in Iju town, the seat of water, they don’t have pipe-borne water. All the water pumped in Adiyan goes to the Island. I know that people from the water corporation have been agitating that borehole users should be levied just like land use charge.
“Even if you privatise the water corporation, how can they come and give you a bill when they don’t supply water to your house? You cannot force somebody to come and pay the water works, when he already has a borehole or well that is probably being powered by his generator.
“It is like this rubbish radio-television charge by the local government. That is extortion as far as I am concerned. You don’t get paid for services you don’t render. I don’t pay for what I don’t get. That is why people go to court.
“There was a time they were sacking them at the water works office because the chlorine that was supposed to be used in treating the water was being diverted. Where they were supposed to use five bags, they would use three and divert the rest. There was a time we had cholera outbreak in Lagos State,” he said.
If like Akinrosotu said, corrupt workers at the corporation diverted the chlorine for water treatment to private use, the implication is that the state government has no moral right to talk about checking incidents of water-borne diseases, because official theft has led to under-treatment of state water supply.
On his part, vice president of Nigerian Shareholders Solidarity Association and chairman, Nampak Nigeria Plc, Matthew Akinlade, remarked that: “The bill will be unfair to the residents of Lagos State; until there is adequate provision of water to serve them without fail, privatisation cannot considered. Banning sinking of boreholes now will not make sense as there is no viable alternative.”
Though Prof. Aderanti Adepoju, former Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos, stated that the practise of drilling boreholes posses some dangers to the environment because Lagos is a littoral state and most of the land is reclaimed, he asked: “Why are people sinking boreholes?”
If there were to be adequate supply of water, he said, people would not be drilling boreholes in their homes. Adepoju advised that, instead, the state government should set out a minimum standard required for drillers.
On the issue of privatising the LSWC, he stressed that, if privatized, the quality would improve but the water rate would increase, as water is heavily subsidised.
However, the group managing director of LSWC, Engr. Shayo Holloway, has debunked the allegations as idle rumours, as there are no plans to either privatise the corporation or ban boreholes. What the corporation set out to do, he said, was: “To ensure that certified, qualified borehole drillers are the only ones who engage in the drilling of boreholes. We only want to regulate the sinking of boreholes.”
When told by this reporter that the word “regulate” was ambiguous, he stated that the only ambiguity in it is that they want to ensure that borehole drilling is done the proper way.
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