By Paul Omorogbe
The Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) and a non-governmental organisation, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) have emphasised the importance of robust campaign strategies if water privatisation plans in Nigeria and other countries in Africa must be defeated.
They drew this conclusion at a training-the-trainers workshop on ‘No to Water Privatisation Campaign’ in Nigeria, which held at the premises of the Institute of Church and Society, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on February 17, 2023.
The workshop brought together members of ecumenical bodies, civil society, gender specialists, people living with disabilities, the media, and researchers, among others.
In her welcome words, Coordinator of the network, Rev Dr Uzoaku Williams, said the training is timely in view of the precarious water situation in Nigeria and across Africa which she described as a human rights disaster.
Williams said that when there is no water the home will be messy because water plays a vital role in hygiene particularly of girls and women.
She explained that the EWN, a brainchild of the World Council of Churches and its members in Nigeria, started their grassroots engagement with programmes in Makoko and other areas where people were experiencing human rights abuses. She opined that the turning point of the work of the network was when they started working to advance the human right to water because of the centrality of water to every basic need.
Going further, she pointed out that the network has played pivotal role in challenging the National Water Resources Bill and will continue to do so because of its anti-people provisions.
She also disclosed the network’s five-year plan which is essentially to make Nigerians conscious of water rights.
Giving an Overview of EWN engagements on water, the Very Rev. Kolade Fadahunsi argued that water privatisation will worsen the crisis of water shortage in hence the decision of the network to embark on the campaign on No to Water Privatisation.
Fadahunsi said that water must no longer be treated as a commodity because it is an essence of life and should be seen as such.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
