2 June 2005
Lagos — A Non-governmental Organisation, Pan African Vision for the Environment (PAVE), has condemned the action of Lagos State government for not involving the grassroot level in its proposed water sector reform.
Its President, Akpan Anthony Johnson, made the observation at a forum organised to facilitate the participation civil society in the ongoing Lagos Water Sector Reform.
He said the civil society organisation has monitored closely the water reforms process since last year, but they were amazed at the non-involvement of people at grassroot in the project.
According to him, a meeting was held with Cheif Executive Officer, Lagos State Water Corporation, Olumuyiwa Coker, where he said the water law was going through reforms. Other subsequent meetings were held with various groups to ensure the civil society participates in the reforms process, one of those meetings according to Akpan was the meeting held with John Bach a representative of World Bank (WB) in April but they were amazed at the exlusion of the grassroot people.
Speaking in the same vein, National Chairman of Environment Division of the Society of Engineers, Engineer Oshodi, said "when Lagos State government started this programme, the society of engineers were watching the trend closely but the surprising point is the lack of transparency," adding that "there was no public hearing prior to the passing of the Lagos state water sector law 2004."
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