Africa Water Week kicks off

African governments have been urged to make the human right to water an obligation and ensure that they facilitate access to water for people across the continent .

Speaking at the opening of the African Week of Action Against Water Privatization, 2022, the Executive Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi, said that universal access to water must be guaranteed to all sections of the population.

He stressed the importance of saying water. “The United Nations has determined that access to clean water and sanitation is a basic human right. It is for this reason that in 66 the UN recognized water as a right human. The right to water gives everyone the right to have access to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use.

He blamed African governments’ attempts to privatize water on pressure from what he calls “water giants who are promoting water grabbing across the world” . He called on governments to resist this pressure as the greatest impacts will be borne by communities. He warned that if allowed, the consequences would be unpleasant for the people who are already burdened with economic vicissitudes. “The little girl who gets up very early in the morning to fetch water will have to do more legwork to fetch water.”

Also speaking at the event, the President of Public Services International and the Amalgamated Union of Civil Service Employees and Technical and Leisure Services (AUPCTRE), Comrade Benjamin Anthony, accused African leaders of selfishness saying, “They don’t think about how to develop their countries.” He criticized water commodification projects and swore, “We, as people, we must speak out so as not to be enslaved.”

For his part, the director of the Arab village, Ikorodu, Lagos, Ustaz Imran Rufai, said that water was an essential element of life and According to him, the importance of water was emphasized in the Holy Quran because it was mentioned 03 times. He added that water was one of the blessings of the Creator and should not be withheld from any human or living being. He said that water was important in the act of worship in Islam and shall not it therefore not be made rare or difficult to access.

The event which was hybrid also brought together participants from other African countries as part of activities across the continent to call for resistance to water commodification plans by African governments.

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