ONGOING talks between some state governments and the World Bank aimed at exploring ways to privatise water in the country is anti-people and an affront on the fundamental rights of the citizens, the Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FOEN) has said.
In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday, the group pointed out that access to clean, hygienic water is an inalienable right, which the governments at all levels should protect.
"Water is a communal resource. Water is life. It is communally owned and protected. It is the duty of government to provide water for the basic needs of citizens. We are totally opposed to the privatisation of water under whatever guise be it Public/ Private Partnership or any other name they are inventing," ERA's Programmes Director, Godwin Uyi Ojo, declared.
The group lamented that several state governments are still struggling to repay huge loans they took from the World Bank or other multilateral agencies for various failed or abandoned water projects scattered across the country, wondering why anyone still believes those institutions have any solution to the nation's water problems.
ERA/FOEN also condemned what it called the patenting of unique communal water resource, urging government to stop all bottlers of natural spring or warm springs across the country.
"The rivers and streams from time immemorial are communally owned and governed. It is alarming for example, that a corporation can be allowed to make huge profits from national heritage like the Ikogosi Warm Spring and the community's name, which they have appropriated. Yet the corporation is not obligated to give back anything to the community that own the water resource and the names," Ojo added.
The group also urged government to stop the reckless mining of water resource by corporation, saying that such ventures should be regulated.
To ensure a sustainable use of the nation's water resources, ERA asked the Federal Government to: