By Yejide Gbenga-Ogundare
Having identified women as the most affected by water scarcity in communities across Nigeria, the Ecumenical Water Network has started the No to Water Privatisation advocacy with focus on communities especially the grassroots in line with the provisions of Resolution 64/292 of the United Nations General Assembly of July 28, 2010 which recognises the human right to water and sanitation.
The resolution also acknowledged that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realisation of all human rights.
And in line with efforts to ensure that people are sensitised to the risks involved in privatising water to make profit at the expense of the people by handing the rights of control of water to corporations, Ecumenical Water Network and its partner, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) have started sensitising stakeholders on the need to resist the act of putting water control in private hands.
This forms the focus of a training for trainers held in Ibadan last week at the Institute of Church and Society to teach stakeholders on the need to forestall the looming challenges which passage of the water resources bill could bring on Nigerians especially going by the understanding that privatisation of water not only displaces people and hurts communities but also allows corporations to control people at the expense of their development and fundamental rights.
The training also explored how privatisation of water has failed in various countries across the African continent and how it spells doom for nations and there people.
Stakeholders at the training themed, ‘Say no to water privatisation campaign in Nigeria,’ agreed that privatisation of water will deny average citizens of access to water.
In her address to kick off the programme, the coordinator of the network, Reverend Mrs. Uguaku Williams, after going down memory lane on how water was a free commodity in the past and how people now suffer in various communities in Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory, added that water, if not entirely free, should be made available, accessible and affordable to the people. She reiterated that to ensure things are done normally and people’s rights are not jeopardised on the altar of privatisation, everyone has a role to play.
On his part, Reverend Kolade Fadahunsi while giving an overview of action, campaigns and project embarked upon by the Ecumenical water network Nigeria, reiterated that stakeholders need to be proactive against water privatisation because governments have a way of sneaking in policies and laws that are detrimental to development and the rights of the masses, citing the example of the Nigeria Water Bill which had been raised twice at the National Assembly.
On her part, Barrister Aderonke Ige from the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, (CAPPA), frowned at the penchant of African leaders to subject themselves to every idea thrown at them by the western world with influence of International financial institutions which make them sign the rights of citizens away.
She also called on all stakeholders to be alert so that the government will not foist the National water resources bill on Nigerians despite staunch opposition, adding that if passed into law, Nigerians will face the same fate as other African countries that now suffer for water even when they provide the commodity themselves, urging the people to spread the message of saying no to water privatisation in Nigeria.
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