Water Management in the Private Domain: A Comparative Analysis of Urban Water Management Practice in Nigeria’s Niger Delta

The paper compares three contextually different urban areas in Nigeria’s Niger Delta to understand how private involvement in the management of water has affected the spatial and socio-economic circumstances of the population. A wide range of methods including semi-structured interviews, observations and analysis of secondary records were used to collect data. The paper observed different forms of private water services including commercial/private borehole, sachet/bottled water services, mobile supplies etc. Their mode of operations and services were not significantly different between the three urban areas despite differences in institutional histories. Findings show there is pervasive impact of private engagement in the supplies and management of water services in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. However such engagement is haphazard, uncoordinated, unclear and highly unregulated. We observed that while public supplies target high income residential areas, the low income areas have been taken over by commercial water vendors to further capital accumulation. Consequently the low income earners employ all forms of daily rationing practice of allocating water to minimize expenditure while indirectly maximizing potential for health and other socio-economic problems. The paper argues that the involvement of the private sector in the management of water resources in Nigeria is a neoliberal agenda translated to reflect the demands and pressures of some major international financial organizations including the World Bank and IMF, rather than practical concerns for the citizens’ interest and needs.