22 March is World Water Day. Still today, we are facing a global water crisis: One in nine people lack of access to clean, safe drinking water. More people die from unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war, and water systems around the world critically need investment. Still also large multinational corporations and their financial backers are exploiting the crisis to transfer public water into private hands. The result: corporate-driven projects that prioritize profit, not people’s needs for access. At this moment it is happening as the World Bank has paved the way for water privatization in the largest city in Africa: Lagos, Nigeria.
We stand with the people in Lagos to defend their human right to water and sanitation and we support them to keep their water in their own hands. Last week people collectively marched through the city of Lagos to the Parliament and the office of the state governor, Raji Babatunde Fashola in a protest against privatisation of the Lagos Water Company. Carrying placards, with inscriptions such as, “We say no to privatization”, “water is our right”, “Water is for the people, not business”, they said government was hiding under the guise of Public Private Partnership (PPP) to privatise the water company. Stand with the people of Lagos who are challenging their government to stand up to corporate water privatizers. Spread and tweet: #OurWaterOurRight #Right2Water
— source right2water.eu