The meeting brought together members of the Lagos State House of Assembly, senior officials of the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC), civil society organisations, trade unions and global water sector experts. Supported by Public Services International (PSI), the engagement created a rare platform for constructive dialogue at a critical moment for Africa’s largest city, where millions continue to face inadequate access to safe and affordable water.
Opening the meeting, Daniel Oberko, PSI Regional Secretary for Arab and Africa, framed the Lagos dialogue within PSI’s global efforts to defend water as a public good and a fundamental human right. He underscored that while water access challenges are complex, privatisation remains a major obstacle to equitable service delivery, pointing instead to public–public cooperation as a proven means of strengthening public utilities, worker capacity and accountability without transferring control to private interests.
Legislative engagement featured prominently, with the Lagos State House of Assembly delegation led by Hon. Shabi Rasheed Adebola Adekola, Chair of the House Committee on Environment (Parastatal). Lawmakers reaffirmed their responsibility to explore evidence-based policy options that prioritise citizens’ welfare. Hon. Stephen Ogundipe, Chair of the House Committee on Information and Strategy, emphasized the importance of transparency, public communication and sustained citizen engagement in building trust around water sector reforms.
Officials from the Lagos Water Corporation outlined the utility’s operational challenges, including infrastructure deficits and efforts to address them through a limited public–private partnership covering approximately 10% of operations. This opened space for discussions on whether PuPs could offer viable alternatives that retain public ownership while improving technical and managerial capacity.
The event benefited significantly from the participation of international experts with deep experience in water service reform. Emanuele Lobina, Associate Professor of Water Service Reform at the Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), University of Greenwich, UK, provided critical insights into the global evidence on privatisation, remunicipalisation, and PuPs. Drawing on comparative research, he demonstrated how PuPs have helped cities strengthen public utilities through peer-to-peer cooperation, knowledge exchange, and capacity building without the risks associated with profit-driven models.
David Boys, PSI Deputy General Secretary, framed PuPs as political and social tools that restore public control and empower workers and communities. From the UN system, Julie Perkins of UN-Habitat’s GWOPA shared case studies demonstrating how well-governed public partnerships can advance progress toward SDG 6.
PSI is now working toward the goal of producing a shared advocacy brief with vital insights that recaps the key topics discussed in the session.
