Three well-known businesses, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc, Guinness Nigeria Plc, and Nigeria Bottling Company Plc, were shut down by the Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission on Christmas Eve for allegedly breaking water usage laws. Although regulatory supervision is essential to effective water management, it is oppressive to shut down companies who are facing significant financial difficulties.
The regulatory penalties draw attention to more general structural problems, including the government’s incapacity to supply its people with safe and dependable water.
The fact that the businesses are being penalized for not paying outrageous fees for supplying themselves with materials that the government has neglected to supply is heinous. The enterprises ought to be reopened by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. His administration shouldn’t make money off of its mistakes.
A chronic water issue is plaguing Lagos, a megacity with a population of over 20 million. Residents and businesses have been left to fend for themselves for decades as a result of the state’s failure to provide enough potable water.
Households and commercial organizations now typically have private boreholes and independent water systems due to a lack of operational public infrastructure. Companies that produce food and beverages and need a lot of water have been forced to make significant investments in systems for acquiring, treating, and distributing water.
The LASWARCO onslaught on these enterprises appears to be unaware of this fact. Companies who operate without the required permissions or that violate water abstraction limitations have been accused by the commission. Uncontrolled water abstraction, it was maintained, was a danger factor for groundwater contamination and land subsidence, but what other options are available to these businesses?
The government has continuously failed to meet its obligations to supply water, but it is ready to punish organizations that fill the need. This is unjust, ineffective, and dangerously careless. It disproves Lagos State’s assertion that it is a business-friendly state. In Lagos, major employers include businesses like food processors, breweries, and bottling facilities for water and soft beverages. In an already fragile economy, closing them down could have disastrous knock-on repercussions, including job losses, lower household incomes, and higher unemployment.
Stopping their operations would result in price increases and shortages, which would exacerbate the already high inflationary tendency.
More concerning, the LASWARCO’s actions give businesses and investors bad signals. Lagos’ economy greatly benefits from the manufacturing sector, which also promotes innovation and brings in large sums of money. An unstable business climate results from the arbitrary execution of legislation without addressing the underlying infrastructural shortcomings.
“A situation where industries are burdened with payments over N100m for generating water for production purposes in the face of the government’s failure to supply the same is unfair,” concluded the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, which condemned the closures. The tyranny of regulation’s detrimental effects on private enterprise are best illustrated by the outrageous fees and the unethical methods of collecting money. A man is correct.
Instead of using strict enforcement measures, Lagos should invest in the infrastructure for the public water supply. According to reports, the Lagos State Water Corporation is only able to supply roughly 10% of the city’s water needs.
According to estimates from the US Agency for International Development, 20 million people in Lagos lack access to sanitary facilities, and over 10 million do not have access to drinkable water.
In addition to being tardy, the LSWC’s recent action to modernize the waterworks and alert locals to leaks highlights the egregious inefficiencies of public service delivery.
This deficiency compels people and companies to look for alternate solutions, frequently at considerable expense. The government should concentrate on resolving the water shortfall rather than punishing those who fill the void.
To create sustainable water management techniques, the Lagos State government must to take a more positive tack and encourage cooperation between the LASWARCO, businesses, and other interested parties. The government ought to invest in developing its water infrastructure and de-commercialize the water abstraction regulatory template.
