Aminat Yahaya —
The Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission, Funke Adepoju has said the expected partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on the monitoring and enforcement of regulation of water sector governance, would birth an investor-friendly environment for cost recovery.
“I am optimistic that when the regulatory commission is properly positioned in the water sector with clearly defined roles, consumers will get potable water, value for money, and an enabling environment for investors for cost recovery”, she said.
In his presentation, the Lagos Urban Water and Sanitation Hygiene, Chief of Party, James Racicot, emphasised that the goal was to increase the availability and sustainable management of safe water in Lagos State by improving the performance of public and private service providers, strengthening the legal and regulatory framework, thereby enhancing the capacity of sector institutions to upscale accountability and transparency.
He said, “An important aspect of the partnership is to conduct city-wide household surveys on water, sanitation, and hygiene services, we intend to work with LASWARCO to develop processes to retrain technical staff to enforce service providers’ compliance while exploring collaboration to improve the quality of sources of water.
“By 2028, it was expected that at least four million people in low-income communities in Lagos State will have access to improved quality sources of water and sanitation services. Organisational and operational performance of providers should have tripled, investors cost recovery should be assured, the capacity of the regulator would be enhanced and consumers will be better oriented.
“The meeting is part of the implementation strategy of the partnership between USAID – LUWASH and the Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission to strengthen the key role of regulation in the water sector since the availability of water is essential for sanitation globally. “
