Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa has slammed the Lagos State Government for what it described as opaqueness and significant procedural violations in the Lagos Water Corporation’s ongoing procurement process for mini and micro water works under a Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer Public-Private Partnership model.
The Lagos Water Corporation issued a tender in September 2025, inviting proposals from private firms for the rehabilitation, upgrade, operation, and maintenance of multiple public water facilities across Lagos.
The facilities include Lekki and Akilo Waterworks, Victoria Island Annex and Magodo Waterworks, Abesan and Alexander Waterworks, and Apapa Waterworks.
However, CAPPA, in a statement released by its Media and Communications Officer, Robert Egbe, alleged that Lagos State’s pattern of deliberate non-disclosure surrounding its plan to privatise public water supply through PPP arrangements contravenes mandatory transparency requirements under the state’s own laws and erodes accountability in the governance of a vital public resource.
The organization noted that though the Lagos State PPP Disclosure Framework 2024 expressly mandates proactive public disclosure at every stage of PPP projects, the Lagos Water Corporation has continued to conduct mini and micro waterworks procurement in secrecy.
According to CAPPA, the Framework requires that feasibility studies, Requests for Proposals, bidder lists, evaluation criteria, contract summaries, fiscal risk assessments, and procurement milestones be published proactively on a public portal without waiting for Freedom of Information requests.
CAPPA stressed that these requirements are mandatory, yet since the procurement commenced last year, none of the required disclosures has been made available to the public.
The statement observed that not only were full RFP details withheld from stakeholders and communities directly affected by the proposed concessions, but the identities of bidders, evaluation criteria, procurement timelines, and award decisions remain undisclosed.
No documentation of the process has been published on the Lagos PPP disclosure portal managed by the Office of Public-Private Partnerships, the statutory body charged with ensuring transparency across all PPP projects, according to CAPPA.
The organization noted that instead of compliance with the Framework’s requirement that information be made easily accessible through official state platforms, the only substantive public information about the procurement has emerged through a paywalled foreign industry publication, Global Water Intelligence.
The publication reported that the Lagos Water Corporation received 19 proposals by October 2025 and expected to conclude awards by March 2026 for a 10-year deal.
CAPPA said it also learned through foreign news in February 2026 that Lagos State has initiated a parallel process to privatise wastewater infrastructure, beginning with wastewater treatment plants, including facilities in Lekki.
“It is disturbing that residents of Lagos and affected communities must rely on an expensive foreign subscription journal to learn about decisions concerning their own public water and sanitation systems, while their government and its water agency refuse to disclose the same information domestically,” CAPPA said.
The organization added that the pattern reflects a broader contradiction in the PPP process, noting that the Lagos State Government and certain international organizations supporting this approach continue to disregard disclosure and accountability standards with impunity in Nigeria.
“These are standards they would never contemplate breaching in their own jurisdictions,” CAPPA said.
The organization emphasized that the secrecy surrounding the mini and micro waterworks PPP is a substantive governance failure with direct implications for affordability, access, and long-term public control of water services.
CAPPA warned that experience across jurisdictions shows that PPP water arrangements frequently result in tariff escalation, reduced public oversight, and long-term fiscal risks, while failing to deliver sustained infrastructure investment.
The organization demanded that the Lagos State Government immediately suspend the mini and micro waterworks PPP procurement until full compliance with statutory disclosure obligations is achieved.
CAPPA also called for prompt publication of all outstanding procurement documents, including feasibility studies, RFP documentation, bidder identities and track records, and evaluation criteria.
Other demands include independent review and oversight to safeguard procedural integrity and public interest, genuine public engagement and stakeholder consultation in all decisions concerning water governance, and urgent correction of violations of the state’s transparency framework.
“Transparency obligations in water governance are statutory. The Lagos State Government cannot simultaneously claim adherence to PPP disclosure standards while conducting one of its most consequential water infrastructure procurements in secrecy. Compliance with the law is the minimum condition for legitimate governance of public resources,” CAPPA said.
The organization maintained that publicly financed and democratically governed water systems remain the most equitable and accountable model.
It called on the Lagos State Government to strengthen public institutions by allocating increased public funding, reinvesting sector revenues into system maintenance and expansion, and prioritizing universal access over commercialization.
CAPPA urged all residents, civil society actors, labor unions, and concerned stakeholders to pay close attention to the state’s water governance processes and actively defend transparency, accountability, and public interest in decisions affecting the lives of Lagosians.