Private sector exclusion fuelling water, sanitation crisis — Presidential committee member

The persistent water and sanitation crisis across Nigeria and Africa is largely due to the exclusion of private investors, according to Nicholas Igwe, a member of the Presidential Steering Committee on Sanitation and National Coordinator of the Organised Private Sector in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

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The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to accelerating Nigeria’s export-led growth agenda under the African Continental Free Trade Area, unveiling opportunities for businesses to access a US$1 billion AfCFTA Adjustment Fund Credit Facility aimed at boosting production, competitiveness, and intra-African trade.

Igwe explained that the sector remains heavily dependent on donor agencies and civil society organizations because governments have not established the necessary institutional frameworks to attract private capital. He asserted that the fundamental challenge is not a shortage of funding or technology, but rather the absence of structures that encourage long-term private investment. This structural failure, he contends, prevents the continent from addressing the basic needs of hundreds of millions lacking access to safe water and sanitation.

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Many businesses still face challenges relating to export documentation, certification, standards compliance and market access.

"The scale of this failure is not the result of technological limitation. It is not the result of insufficient understanding. It is not even primarily the result of insufficient funding. It is the result of a structural failure," Igwe stated. He pointed out that African governments have not adequately addressed the reasons why private investors are hesitant to enter the WASH sector, which has consequently been dominated by donor agencies and CSOs.

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The water sector has the material. We have the capital, we have the technology, we have the engineering knowledge, we have the political commitments and the private sector actors willing to invest. What it lacks is the arrangement, the institutional structure that determines how these materials come together in a way that is stable, scalable and self-sustaining.

Despite the availability of capital, technology, expertise, and political will, the sector lacks the institutional arrangements to make investments viable and self-sustaining. Igwe described this as an "architectural problem." He highlighted that Nigeria's sanitation economy alone is projected to be worth $26 billion by 2030, yet private investment in this sector remains negligible, indicating a significant missed opportunity. He drew parallels with other sectors like telecommunications and energy, which have thrived due to liberalization and regulation that attract private capital.

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The scale of this failure is not the result of technological limitation. It is not the result of insufficient understanding. It is not even primarily the result of insufficient funding. It is the result of a structural failure.