By: Mandy Park
Latest report from the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has exposed the failures of the World Bank’s water privatisation reforms in Nigeria, which has left millions without reliable access to potable water, while saddling the country with long-term debt.
The report titled: Big Debt, Big Thirst: A Case Study of World Bank Supported Projects in Ekiti, Rivers, and Bauchi States, was presented at a media briefing in Lagos, on Friday, 28th March.
The new report exposed the looming challenges and lies of the World bank propositions concerning water privatisation rather than adopting a homegrown approach to water governance.
CAPPA’s Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi, criticised the World Bank’s approach to water governance at the media presentation.
Said Oluwafemi ” According to the report, the privatisation model, championed under the Third National Urban Water Sector Reform Project (NUWSRP3), has worsened water accessibility instead of improving it.
“Instead of delivering better water services, privatisation has led to higher tariffs, job losses, lack of public accountability, and continued inefficiencies,”
The report findings show that there are still Water Shortages despite Multi-Million Dollar Investments with long term loans.
For instance: The NUWSRP3, backed by a $250 million loan from the International Development Association (IDA), aimed to modernise water supply systems through privatisation and corporatisation.
However, CAPPA’s findings indicate that, years after project completion, communities remain underserved, and many residents still lack access to potable water.
In Ekiti State, despite significant investment in key infrastructure such as the Ero and Ureje dams, communities in Ado-Ekiti, including Iworoko and Olorunsogo, continue to face severe water shortages. Many residents who paid between ₦5,000 and ₦50,000 for prepaid meters and piped connections still experience dry taps, with some recalling the 1990s—when water utilities were publicly managed—as the last period of reliable supply.
Similarly, in Bauchi State, the corporatisation of the state’s water board has failed to resolve persistent water scarcity, largely due to power supply challenges.
CAPPA’s report highlights that poor electricity infrastructure directly undermines water distribution, making privatisation an ineffective solution to the state’s water crisis.
The report further examines Rivers State, where the NUWSRP3 was supposed to enhance water supply for over 1.5 million residents in Obio-Akpor, Port Harcourt.
However, poor coordination between the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) caused significant delays, ultimately leading to the World Bank’s withdrawal from the project.
“This withdrawal highlights a fundamental flaw in international development financing—where rigid timelines and loan conditions often ignore on-the-ground realities,” Oluwafemi remarked.
The report revealed mounting Debt Burdens and called for Policy Shift.
It noted that despite the project failures, Nigeria remains responsible for repaying the foreign loans tied to them, further straining the nation’s economy amid rising inflation and dwindling public funds.
CAPPA, a leading public policy NGO, argues that the World Bank’s insistence on privatisation has not only failed to deliver results but has also deepened Nigeria’s economic dependency and inequality.
The organisation called for an immediate halt to water privatisation in Nigeria, advocating instead for increased public investment, stronger regulatory frameworks, and greater community participation in water management.
CAPPA insists that water should be treated as a fundamental human right rather than a commercial commodity.
The 59-page report reveals how public taps in Nigeria once ran with water until the 1980s when the World Bank and IMF started promoting the privatisation of water.
These privatisation reforms touted as a solution to Nigeria’s debt crisis, have instead worsened the situation, deepening debt and leaving taps without water.
“The continent’s postcolonial economic and debt crises provided the perfect opening for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to impose Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) and austerity measures, which argued that borrowing states must make certain adjustments to become viable members of the International economy or even meet their debt obligations,” the report noted.
CAPPA’s Water Program Officer, Sefa Ikpa, highlighted the challenge of the water crisis during the launch of the report on Friday, March 28 in Lagos.
Citing communities in Bauchi, Rivers and Ekiti where they visited for field investigation, Ikpa quoted the field engineer at Ero dam in Ekiti who said all the water infrastructure is on the ground but can’t work because the equipment can only be operational when there’s a 24-hour uninterrupted power supply. “They have not been able to achieve that in the state for months. So, the equipment is just lying fallow. The water is not running,” she said.
CAPPA Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi said the water crisis confronting Nigeria and much of Africa is the outcome of decades-long state withdrawal from public investments, coupled with the aggressive imposition of neoliberal policies falsely presented as pathways to development.
Dr Gideon Adeyeni, who was also in the research team remarked that their findings show that World Bank interventions in water projects in Nigeria are more of a failure than success.
Assistant Director at CAPPA, Zikora Ibeh, argues that public water was functional when it was being managed by the state. “Such essential services should not be left in the hands of private capital who care more about profit than public good,” she said.
The activist noted further that prescriptions by the World Bank and their Allies have never worked for the development of the water sector.
Professor Adelaja Odutola Odukoya, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Lagos said the World Bank was made for the Western World, not to advance the development of Africa and other poor countries. He said whatever loan is taken from the World Bank, the bulk of it does not come to the benefiting countries. “The technology, the capital, and the interest go back to the Western World. It’s a circle, he said, adding that local politicians are interested in getting the loans so that they can loot it, saying development is not on the agenda.
Comrade Hassan Taiwo Soweto, in his contribution, said water is so critical to be left in the hands of the private sector.
Soweto said even in the most developed part of the world, some of these utilities are not left totally to private interest because of their national security significance so that somebody does not poison a dam and undermine the health of the entire country.
Comrade Gbenga Komolafe, General Secretary of the Federation of Informal Workers of Nigeria (FIWON), lamented the failure of the states in managing public utilities, saying developments in Nigeria have been on the decline.
He said Nigerian government has become a payee to financial institutions.