AUPCTRE election spurs fresh campaign against water privatization

Following the successful election of Comrade Benjamin Anthony of Federal Housing Authority (FHA) Abuja as the president of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE),

the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has firmed that this would be a new dawn in the campaign against water privatization.

Speaking, in a press release in Lagos, the Deputy Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said that the outcomes of the elections reflected a deep cohesion and strength by AUPCTRE, which is one of the largest affiliates under the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

“We commend AUPCTRE for the hitch-free national congress and election which has produced a new president in the person of Comrade Benjamin Anthony.

With his track-records as a campaigner for just policies, his emergence as national president gives us hope that AUPCTRE will continue leading the campaign against water privatization in Nigeria.”

Oluwafemi explained that, members of AUPCTRE have over the years has been at the fore front in the fight to get state governments, especially Lagos to reject Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the water sector in favor of Public Partnership.

While stressing that AUPCTRE was part of ‘Our Water Our Right Coalition’ that embarked on the host of activities including; street protests in Lagos to get the state government to expunge anti-people sections in the Lagos Environmental Law signed into law early this year.

Olufemi noted that the organization was convinced that the result of the election has brought a new dawn to the campaign against water privatization in Nigeria, adding that, with her local and international partners, ERA/FoEN will continue to engage authorities concerned on innovative solutions to the crisis in the water sector in accordance to human rights laws.

“We are confident in Comrade Anthony and his team in steering AUPCTRE in a direction that will not only strengthen state chapters but also reinvigorate their engagement with civil society to guarantee that government policies does not violate the right of any Nigerians to clean, safe and adequate water,” he said.