Lagos’ “Shit Water” Crisis: CAPPA Slams Government Over Borehole Contamination
The shocking admission by a Lagos State official that some Lekki residents are “probably drinking… ‘shit water’” has reignited outrage over the state’s decades-long failure to provide safe public water.
The remark, made by Mahmood Adegbite, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, was intended as a warning about contaminated boreholes.
But according to Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), it instead exposed “a crisis the government manufactured.”
In a strongly worded statement, CAPPA argued that boreholes and wells in Lagos are not luxury choices but survival measures by residents abandoned by public water systems. “You cannot neglect your constitutional duty for decades, then turn around to shame people for doing what they must to survive,” said Akinbode Oluwafemi, the group’s Executive Director.
The organisation accused the Lagos State Government of chronic neglect, underinvestment, and pursuing “discredited privatisation models” that have failed elsewhere, while ignoring calls for publicly led, community-driven water governance.
CAPPA is demanding urgent investment in public water infrastructure, an emergency plan for underserved communities, and a halt to market-based reforms.
It warned that regulating borehole drilling is meaningless without first providing accessible, safe alternatives.
“Lagosians are not to blame for drinking unsafe water. They are victims of policy failure. This failure must be acknowledged and corrected, not weaponised,” the group insisted.
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