Lagos Out With New Water Supply Policy

The Lagos State government is currently fashioning out a new policy aimed at efficient water supply and control of sanitary conditions in the state.

At a one-day stakeholders’ workshop on Developing Water Supply and Sanitation Policy for Lagos State, experts were invited to contribute to the new policy that would soon be adopted by government to enhance efficient water distribution in the state.

The Lagos State Water Corporation, LWC, organised the workshop in conjunction with some non-government organisations, NGO.

The new policy, if adopted, would address some institutional issues that are capable of providing the expected results.

Group Managing Director, GMD, LWC, Mr. Shayo Holloway said there was need for a new policy that would act as a compass to direct the sector for efficient performance.

He stated that government-owned companies were short of working capital, adding that “opportunity to become viable corporate entities capable of meeting very high demand growth, large financial obligations, satisfying legitimate concerns from labour unions, protecting the poor from dramatic price rise, among other challenges, are the main reasons for drafting this policy.”

Holloway added that the overall objective of the policy framework was to develop appropriate water supply and sanitation legal instruments that would enhance sustainable water supply and sanitation services in the state, including the establishment of State Regulatory Authority.

“The essence of this gathering is to officially declare government intention to assist the Lagos Water Corporation in the drafting and put in place necessary legislation in the implementation of the policy in the state.

“In line with global trends in addressing urban, small towns and rural water supply and sanitation and developing policy as well as legislation to carry the policy into effective use, we realise that we cannot continue to do things the old way.

“Faced with low revenue generation and collection, poor service delivery and government’s inability to provide funding to meet the ever increasing demand for potable water supply and adequate sanitation, reform is imperative to bridge the funding gap of the sector and provide an efficient and effective service delivery to the people,” he stated.

According to him, a key challenge in the water sector is that the consumers are generally not exposed to the full cost of service delivery of the essential good, stressing that moving to realistic cost pricing of water utility prior to a Public-Private Partnership, PPP, approach could be considered to “reduce this and other important issues in this sector.”

One of the consultants at the forum, Mr. Babatope Babalobi, said while the LWC was to manage the provision of water supply services as well as wastewater in the metropolis as “autonomous and quasi-commercial body,” the new Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, RWSSA, will handle service provisions in the rural areas, based on community management and demand responsive approach.

He added that the organized private sector service providers and informal providers for public places and other areas not covered by these bodies should also be encouraged.

Another speaker, Professor Lekan Oyebande, Chairman, Technical Committee, West Africa Water Partnership, who spoke on Essence of Water Supply and Sanitation Policy, noted that a new approach to water supply was necessary if the dream of quality and quantity of water needs of the people would be realised.

“Water ‘supply oriented approach’ cannot meet the target, except there is a change to ‘demand oriented approach.’ Though, water is being supplied in large quantity, the volumes are not properly put into use, thus creating room for enormous wastage,” he said.

Speaking on the Overview of the Process of Developing the Lagos Water Supply and Sanitation Policy, Mrs. Abiola Aina, Reform Officer, Lagos Water Corporation reeled out reforms that had taken place in the water sector. These included the policy, legal and regulatory on environment; formation of water supply and sanitation policy committee and the different drafts put forward by these committees.

Aina said the first draft was put in place after three separate meetings were conveyed on 29 September, 2010 and 11 and 26, October; with the various groups that included representatives of Ogun-Osun River Basin Authority, Civil Society Organisations, LWC officials, and others.

Recommendations that are to form the fulcrum of the new policy include the creation of Ministry of Water Resources that would effectively coordinate and act as a body for water supply in Lagos; creation of Lagos Water Supply Regulatory Commission to regulate provision of water supply and sanitation services and creation of Lagos State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation in the Ministry of Rural Development.

Other recommendations include the creation of a State Steering Committee on water sanitation to coordinate efforts of state agencies on basic sanitation policy formulation and programming; that the Ministry of Health should be responsible for drinking water quality surveillance and shall lead institutions enforcing Nigerian standard for drinking quality water; creation of a Desk Office on climate change in the proposed Ministry of Water Resources to study the likely effects of climate change on water supply and come up with mitigation and adaptation strategies.

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