By Onuora Aninwobodo
The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has published a new report exposing failures in World Bank-backed water privatisation projects in three states.
The “Big Debt, Big Thirst: A Case Study of World Bank Supported Projects in Ekiti, Rivers and Bauchi States,” report was presented to the public at a press conference by CAPPA’s Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi.
According to the report, though the water projects failed to deliver on its promises, Nigerian tax payers end up being saddled with potentially long-term debt repayment obligations.
The foreign currency-denominated loans divert critical resources away from essential public services, exacerbating economic hardship in an already struggling economy, the report showed.
Spexifically, the reported showed that the privatisation-driven reforms, introduced under the World Bank’s Third National Urban Water Sector Reform Project (NUWSRP3) failed to improve water access in the affected states despite a $250 million loan from the bank’s International Development Association.
The NUWSRP3 aimed to enhance water infrastructure and management by promoting private sector involvement in the water supply sector.
However, five years after the project’s completion, residents in the affected states are still struggling with limited access to potable water, with many areas worse off than before the reforms.
In Ekiti State, for instance, significant investments in the Ero and Ureje dams, have not translated into improved water supply, as residents of communities such as Iworoko and Olorunsogo, who paid between N5,000 and N50,000 for prepaid meters and water connections, remain without reliable access to potable water.
The report stated that many locals recall the 1990s—when water utilities were publicly managed—as the last period of consistent supply.
In Bauchi State, the report stated that chronic electricity shortages have hindered water supply improvements, despite substantial financial injections aimed at upgrading infrastructure and corporatising the state’s water board.
The report argued that the privatisation model had failed to resolve systemic inefficiencies that existed under public management.
In Rivers State, the report noted the situation is even more complex. The NUWSRP3 was meant to enhance water supply for over 1.5million residents in Obio-Akpor, Port Harcourt, through a collaboration between the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
However, procurement challenges and poor coordination between the two financial institutions led to severe delays, ultimately resulting in the World Bank’s withdrawal from the project.
Below is the presentation of Mr Oluwafemi at the presentation:
Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) warmly welcomes you to the media presentation of our new report, Big Debt, Big Thirst: A Case Study of World Bank Supported Projects in Ekiti, Rivers and Bauchi States but it is with great concern that we present findings from it.
The report examines the ongoing implications of privatisation reforms advocated by international financial institutions, particularly the World Bank, and reveals a disturbing pattern of systemic failures that continue to compromise water access for millions of Nigerians. There is undeniably a crisis of potable water availability in Nigeria and across much of Africa. However, public discourse around this critical issue frequently attributes the problem to factors such as rapid population growth, climate change, ageing infrastructure, and weak governance structures that impact the performance of public water systems.
But our research reveals that the water crisis confronting Nigeria and much of Africa cannot simply be attributed to environmental or demographic pressures alone but also the predictable outcome of decades-long state withdrawal from public investment, coupled with the aggressive imposition of neoliberal policies falsely presented as pathways to development. In this context, we have observed growing debates about water accessibility, particularly around whether water should remain a fundamental public good, universally accessible by right, or be treated as a market-driven commodity, subject to the impersonal forces of profit-oriented supply and demand.
Privatisation and commercialisation are widely promoted as efficient solutions to public sector shortcomings. Proponents of this approach argue that market mechanisms naturally foster investment and operational efficiency. Yet, the empirical reality from Ekiti, Rivers, and Bauchi states tells a markedly different story. Instead of improved water access and infrastructure, citizens experience steep tariff hikes, workforce downsizing, diminished public accountability, and continued systemic inefficiencies.
The World Bank’s Third National Urban Water Sector Reform Project (NUWRSP3), supported by a significant $250 million loan from the International Development Association, promised transformative results for state water sectors through privatisation and corporatisation.
Yet our findings unequivocally hold that five years after the project’s completion and with a national debt repayment stretching over forty years, local communities remain deeply underserved and disappointed. Systemic issues such as lack of managerial accountability and inconsistent power supply, which were flagged as major challenges under public management, remain unaddressed and even exacerbated under this private-driven reform framework.
“Take Ekiti State, for instance, where substantial investments were made in critical infrastructure like the Ero and Ureje dams under the NUWSRP3. Residents in areas such as Iworoko and Olorunsogo (Zones 1A-C, Zone 2, and Zone 4), who paid significant amounts-between N5,000 and N50,000-to obtain prepaid water meters and piped connections to central water points in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, continue to suffer water deprivation. When engaged, many community members nostalgically reference the 1990s as the last period when they had consistent access to potable water-ironically, a time when water utilities were publicly managed.
Similarly, in Bauchi State, the loan injection aimed at infrastructural upgrades and the corporatisation of the state water board has failed to resolve chronic water scarcity, primarily due to persistent electricity shortages. This situation reinforces our long-held conviction that the privatisation of essential utilities, often heralded as the panacea for public sector inefficiencies, frequently proves anything but infallible.
The privatisation of electricity in Nigeria underscores this point clearly. It is hard to argue that Nigerians have benefited from this shift where many have found themselves burdened by crazy and outrageous bills, all the while receiving little or no energy. This absurdity is heightened by the recent introduction of different consumption bands, which only serves to emphasise the comic tragedy of the situation.
The dysfunction evident in Nigeria’s national electricity supply similarly afflicts our water systems. Corporatised thirst, privatised water, privatised light, and enormous debts imposed upon Nigerians and future generations, yet the taps remain dry, leaving communities continually thirsty. At this point, it is essential to also state that public services operate within an interconnected and fragile ecosystem-where the effectiveness of one sector invariably impacts another. Our findings specifically highlight how inadequate electricity supply directly undermines the performance and reliability of water supply systems across the three states, among other issues.
In Rivers State, we observed further complexity. The NUWRSP3 in Rivers State, designed to enhance water supply services for the over 1.5 million residents in the Obio-Akpor area of Port Harcourt, was initially envisioned to be a collaborative effort between the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB). However, ineffective coordination between the two financial institutions and procurement challenges led to severe delays in advancing the project and culminated in the World Bank ultimately withdrawing its support.
For us, the withdrawal of World Bank support mid-project exemplifies the consequences of inter-institutional misalignment even in the so-called privatisation model and the sometimes-distorted nature of international development financing where rigid timelines and loan conditions override practical realities and public interest, leaving communities in dire need unmet.
Despite these failures, the burden of debt repayment persists, saddling citizens with enormous financial obligations. These loans, denominated in foreign currency, divert precious and scarce monies away from urgent public investments, further exacerbating economic hardship amidst soaring inflation and poor economic outlook. A pertinent question thus arises: Who takes responsibility for these failures
Central to this report is an examination of the ideological underpinnings of the World Bank’s water reform strategies. Our findings reveal a pattern wherein structural adjustment policies and privatisation schemes, historically pushed by international financial institutions such as the World Bank and IMF since the 1980s, have consistently undermined democratic control over essential resources, intensified socio-economic disparities, and fostered long-term developmental dependencies.
Across all three states, a fundamental condition attached to the water project loans was the commitment-embedded even within policy frameworks to restructure state-owned water corporations into privatised entities or create conditions enabling unrestricted private sector involvement, including the acquisition of public water infrastructure. Despite this, no significant improvement has materialised in people’s access to reliable water supply.
Communities engaged in this report explicitly reject water privatisation. Yet, despite decades of documented failures-including those acknowledged by the World Bank’s own evaluations-our governments continue to be trapped in cycles of external debt, adhering obediently to prescriptions that have been proven ineffective time and time again.
The truth remains that, unlike other utilities, the politics surrounding water access in Nigeria is deeply intertwined with cultural, religious, economic, social and public health considerations, making it unsuitable for binary market-driven solutions. This complexity underscores, therefore, an urgent need for a fundamental rethinking of our national water governance. Even so, evidence abounds that the privatisation of water utilities has consistently failed-not just in Nigeria but across the globe.
It is on this premise that this report calls for an immediate cessation of the privatisation of water services in Nigeria. It advocates for a fundamental reorientation that recognises water as a fundamental human right, necessitating sustained public investment, transparent governance, and genuine democratic control.
Achieving this vision requires comprehensive public funding mechanisms, such as ring-fencing earnings from our natural resources to finance water infrastructure and projects, along with increased allocations of national and state budgets to the water sector. Additionally, robust regulatory frameworks and active community participation are essential to ensure equitable access and long-term sustainability.
Importantly, the findings of this report emphasise the urgency of confronting and challenging the broader ideological framework that drives the privatisation of public water utilities, deregulation, and austerity-an approach that continues to place the interests of financial institutions, corporations and private entities over public welfare.
