*Says no to water commodification
African governments have been urged to uphold the human right to water as its obligation and ensure they make access to water easy for the population across the continent.
Speaking at the opening of the Africa Week of Action against water privatisation, 2022, the Executive Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi, said universal access to water must be guaranteed to all strands of the population.
He stressed the importance of water saying. “The United Nations has determined access to clean water and sanitation facilities is a basic human right. It is for this reason that in 2010 the UN recognised water as a human right. The right to water entitles everyone to have access to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use.”
He blamed the attempts by African governments to privatise water on pressures mounted by what he calls “the corporate water behemoths promoting water grabs across the globe”, he called on governments to resist this pressure as the greatest impacts of this will be borne by communities. He warned that if this is allowed, the consequences would be unpleasant on the populace which is already over burdened with economic vicissitudes saying. “The girl child who wakes very early in the morning to fetch water will have to do more legwork to get water.”
Also speaking at the event, the President of Public Services International and Amalgamated Union of Public Civil Service and Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), Comrade Benjamin Anthony, accused Africa leaders of selfishness saying “They don’t think of how to grow their countries.” He faulted plans to commodify water and vowed, “We as a people must speak so as not to be enslaved.”
On his part, the Director of Arabic Village, Ikorodu, Lagos, Ustaz Imran Rufai, said, water was an essential part of life and worship. According to him, the importance of water was emphasised in the holy Quran because it was mentioned 66 times. He added that water was one of the blessings of the Creator and should not be denied to any human or living being. He said water was important in the act of worship in Islam and therefore should not be made scarce or difficult to access.
The event which was hybrid was also attended by participants from other African countries as part of the activities across the continent to call for resistance to plans to commodify water by African governments.
