. AUPCTRE kicks against water privatisation
By Valentine Amanze
The Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Service Employees (AUPCTRE) has revealed that the management of Lagos State Water Corporation (LWC) spent a N24 million for cutting of overgrown weeds in its Iju office.
It also disclosed that the office of the Managing Director, Engr. Mumuni Badmus, was recently renovated at the cost of N70 million.
The union further alleged that the much-celebrated N800 million released by the state government for the rehabilitation of 48 mini and macro water works was diverted, leaving the said water works in even worse state.
Lagos State Secretary, AUPCTRE, Comrade Abiodun Bakare, disclosd these in Lagos yesterday.
He wondered why the LWC introduced a new six-month billing system which lasted till December 2018 whereby billing information gathered from consumers in Nigeria are sent to a Ugandan company, TraceCorps Solution, a subsidiary of 2ML Consulting Limited, for processing.
According to him, the details of the information are subsequently sent back to Nigeria for implementation.
He said that the project cost LWC $350,000 (about N110 million)”.
Bakare further revealed that the recent disruptions in public water supply by the Lagos Water Corporations (LWC) was a strategy by Lagos State government to deceive Lagosians into believing that the much-discredited privatization model of Public Private Partnership (PPP) was the solution to make the water sector work.
He advised the Lagos State Governor, Akinwumi Ambode, to stop all clandestine moves to privatize water before the expiration of his tenure, May, 29, 2019.
Already,, there had been reports of water disruptions and shortages in many parts of Lagos especially in Bariga, Lawanson, Ojodu, Okota, Ketu, Agege, Abule Egba, Agboyi and Mile 12 among other areas.
But AUPCTRE, via Bakare, stated: “We are compelled to inform you (Lagosians) that the current situation in water decline is a deliberate strategy by the management of the Lagos Water Corporation to cajole Lagosians into believing that the only sustainable way of supplying water to Lagos residents is to adopt the much-discredited privatization model of Public Private Partnership (PPP).
“It is disheartening to state here that, at this critical period when countries throughout the world are embracing remunicipalisation, Lagos State is spear-heading privatization.
“Its private arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), earlier this month also issued a statement on the first step of a partnership with Lagos which we believe includes water, though they deliberately did not mention it due to our opposition since 2014. The IFC has been at the fore-front of the promotion of the PPP model in the water sector.
“While the workers have welcomed reforms to make the LWC more productive, the management of the corporation which initiated the reforms is actually determined to ensure that the same reforms yield no positive result to pave the way for their privatization agenda which they desire despite popular resistance”.
While accusing government of its catalogue of corruption, AUPCTRE demanded a probe of all monies allocated to increase water supply in the state, especially monies channeled through the LWC since 2016. It urged the incoming administration in Lagos to review all the dealings of the LWC with the IFC and other bodies calculated at handling Lagos water to privatizers and harness genuine inputs from well-meaning Lagos citizens that will ensure the human right to water is guaranteed.
