The Managing Director of the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC), Muminu Badmus, on Tuesday assured its workers that the government would not privatise the organisation.
Badmus told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the assurance became necessary to allay fears of the workers on the issue, once and for all.
According to him, even with the Public Private Partnership (PPP) to increase the waterworks stations, the corporation will still be fully in charge of its facilities.
“PPP is not privatisation. Even with investors, Lagos Water Corporation is still in control of all its facilities.
“I am assuring the labour here that there will not be reduction in the workers’ population.
“Rather, the workers have more work to do, to ensure that the corporation continues to meet the expectations of water consumers in the state.
“The labour force is needed now more than before, to ensure improvement in the distribution of potable water in the state,’’ he said.
Badmus said the corporation would still need more hands to service its consumers, with the projected population of 29 million by 2020.
The managing director said that the population had put pressure on existing water facilities in the state.
According to him, the corporation is working with the Lagos Water Supply Master Plan 2020 to solve the problem of water shortage as a result of the growing population.
He said the PPP model for the project would be carefully considered, to ensure that both parties, as well as the workforce, benefit from it.
Badmus said that the corporation had created regional centres in eight zones in the state, to effectively utilise its workforce.
He said it had also created a data control centre to be manned by its workers, to ensure the provision of effective service to its numerous customers.
