Americans, others urge Sanwo-Olu not to privatise water

TRACKING_____Notable African-Americans have urged Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to reverse his water privatisation plan.

Among those who wrote Sanwo-Olu were the American civil rights activist, Rev. Jesse Jackson; President, Institute of the Black World 21st Century, Dr. Ron Daniels; Senior Vice-President for Advocacy and Director on NAACP Washington Bureau, Hillary Shelton; Director of Flint Rising, Nayyirah Shariff and 11 other African-Americans and U.S.-based racial justice organisations.

In the letter, which was dispatched on February 4 from the U.S., the groups expressed their solidarity with the people of Lagos and particularly the Our Water Our Right Coalition, saying their support is part of a “collective struggle together to achieve the universal human right to clean, safe drinking water.”

Signatories to the letter called on the Sanwo-Olu administration to abandon its efforts at water privatisation and listen to the voices of the people who are demanding a public water system with the investment needed to work for all Lagosians.

They said they have equally requested that the Congressional Black Caucus of the U.S. Congress should use its full influence to bring attention to the demands of the Our Water Our Rights Coalition in Nigeria and other community-based grassroots campaigns across the continent.

Read Also: Sanwo-Olu urges firms to empower youths in communities hosting oil exploration

Speaking about the thrust of the letter at a joint news conference held in Lagos with the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), the President of Institute of the Black World 21st Century, Dr. Ron Daniels, said that the decision to write was reached at a recent round-table discussion on water as a human right with African American leaders in Washington.

He said: “At that meeting, the groups learned about the calculated strategy of multinational corporations to profit from the privatisation of water systems in Africa.”

Daniels said: “Nigeria has emerged as the epicentre of this insidious effort. Because of our racial, cultural and historical relationships with the people of Africa, we have a strong commitment to standing in solidarity with the Our Water Our Rights Coalition in Nigeria.”

Shariff, who took time to explain how the Flint water pollution in the U.S. impacted on women, said that the high concentration of lead in the city’s water system affected the foetus of expectant mothers “and the impacts are still being documented.”

She said Flint residents are in solidarity with Lagosians, adding: “We may be on different soils, but we are united against inequalities and injustices regardless of where it is arising within the globe.’’

ERA/FoEN Deputy Executive Director Akinbode Oluwafemi had said that nearly eight months into the tenure of the Sanwo-Olu administration, demands by the Our Water Our Right Coalition for a blueprint on how to resolve the water crisis and recommendations on real solutions had not elicited any response.

Oluwafemi said that the coalition was demanding that the Governor Sanwo-Olu administration should reject all forms of water privatisation and commodification, adding that it should uphold the human rights to water as an obligation of the government representing the people; integrate broad public participation in developing plans to achieve universal access to clean water and build the political will to prioritise water for the people that will lead to a comprehensive plan that invests in the water infrastructure necessary to provide universal water access, among others.