About 33 members of the United States, US, Congressional Black Caucus, CBC, have expressed solidarity with people in the global community standing in support of the human right to water, with particular mention of the dangers of privatisation of water in Lagos.
The CBC position underscores the disproportionately harmful effect water privatisation schemes, including public-private partnerships, have on people around the world, pointing specifically to efforts to privatize water in Lagos, where the World Bank has pushed privatisation as a solution despite its abysmal track record.
As part of a global movement to oppose corporate control of water, spanning from Jakarta to St. Louis, Baltimore recently avoided potentially perilous contract with global private water corporation Veolia. John Conyers, Detroit representative led the CBC with Karen Bass, ranking member of the Africa subcommittee, Sheila Jackson Lee, the Democratic co-chair of the Nigeria Caucus, and Maxine Waters and Emanuel Cleaver, two former CBC chairs, also among the influential endorsers.
“We wish to express our solidarity with the people of Lagos, of Detroit, and of cities around the world as they raise their voices in support of public water, participatory governance, and universal access. Water is a fundamental building block upon which individual and collective economic prosperity relies,when people cannot access or afford clean water, the impact on their health and livelihoods is devastating and these circumstances force families to make painful economic choices,” CBC stated.
The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, ERA/FoEN has commended the CBC for its letter of solidarity with Lagos residents and people in the global struggle to access clean,safe drinking water, describing the action as “timely” in halting the planned privatisation of water in Lagos.
Akinbode Oluwafemi,ERA/FoEN director, Corporate Accountability & Administration, said the solidarity letter from the CBC is an encouragement for anti-privatisation groups to scale up our campaign against policies that prioritise profits over rights. “We expect the Lagos State government to halt the privatization plans and instead defend the rights of the vast majority of Lagos residents that water privatization will disenfranchise,” he noted.
Oluwafemi, who recently visited CBC offices to seek support for the campaign against water privatisation in Lagos promoted by the Lagos State Water Corporation, LSWC, thanked members of the caucus for supporting the campaign by Lagosians to defend their right to a free gift of nature. ERA/FoEN and a coalition of labor, human rights and environmental groups have taken to the streets, creating enough pressure that water privatization was a central issue in the recent elections.