Complaint to the UN Committee on Economic,Social and Cultural Rights

Secretary to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Office 1-025, Palais Wilson Palais des Nations
8-14 Avenue de la Paix, 1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
21 March 2006

Dear Sir/Madam:

Re: Complaint against the refusal of/ failure by the Nigerian Government to honour its commitment to promote respect for the right to water in the country. The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) is seriously concerned that violations of the human right to water are intensifying in Nigeria.

SERAP is a human rights non-governmental organization registered under Nigerian laws, and whose mandates include the promotion of respect for socio-economic rights of Nigerians, through litigation, research and publications, advocacy and monitoring. SERAP seeks to promote the full realization of economic and social rights in Nigeria by working to ensure that public institutions and officials are made more accountable and transparent in the use of Nigeria’s wealth and natural resources.

Despite the country’s commitment under the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Nigeria ratified the Covenant in October 1993), Nigerian government policies and actions (for example through failure to incorporate the Covenant into national laws and the corresponding lack of legal recognition of the right to water as a legally enforceable human right in Nigeria; inability of the government to establish a national plan of action on the right to water; corruption and absence of the rule of law; and privatization of Nigeria’s water and sanitation sectors) continue to threaten the safety of, and accessibility to basic supplies of water or adequate sanitation.

Over 80 million of Nigeria’s estimated 140 million people do not have access to safe drinking water. And most of the projects to provide safe drinking water by successive governments in Nigeria, including the National Water Rehabilitation Project, the Improved National Access to Water Supply and Sanitation Programme and the construction of a second water treatment plant in Abuja have failed due to fraud and widespread corruption; lack of a rights-based approach to water programme, and lack of political will.

In fact, the corruption and mismanagement that have afflicted Nigeria since independence in 1960 remains the principal factor undermining citizens’ enjoyment of the right to water in Nigeria today. In 2004, the African Development Bank (ADB) announced the cancellation of 80 per cent of its water projects in the country, citing official corruption.

The result is that all across the country, majority of Nigerians, especially the most vulnerable groups,including children, women and the elderly, have been left to continue drinking water containing iron sulphide and all sorts of bacteria, germs and suspended matter capable of causing diseases. In many cities, piped water is a near luxury, while rural dwellers continue to source drinking water from polluted springs/rivers or wells with the attendant health risks of contracting diseases such as guinea worm and cholera.

Furthermore, most local and state governments whose primary responsibility is to provide water are spending millions purchasing treatment chemicals for water that is not available. Floods, pollution and inadequate water treatment plants remain part of daily existence in Nigeria.In the Niger Delta area of Nigeria, oil corporations’ crude oil mines continue to pollute the environment and rivers, killing fish that people rely on for food.Levels of lead, iron, boron and nitrates above the World Health Organization’s permissible standards, are found in groundwater near oil spills. In Lagos, pipes run through gutters and many people have to get water sold in jerry cans from vendors.

In many parts of the country, dozens of people depend on rivers and streams for their drinking water and states are failing to provide water for their populations.In short, the continuing contamination, depletion and unequal distribution of water is exacerbating existing poverty in Nigeria. Yet, the right to water is a fundamental human right, and its full enjoyment is indispensable for leading a life in human dignity.

It is a prerequisite for the realization of other human rights. The right to water is also inextricably related to other human rights, including the right to the highest attainable standard of health and the rights to adequate housing and adequate food.

Furthermore, under the UN Millennium Declaration and Development Goals, Nigeria has an obligation to move progressively to ensure that the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water is halved by 2015. As stated above, Nigeria is a state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which imposes clear non-derogable core obligations with respect to the right to water.

Thus, having ratified the Covenant, Nigeria is under an obligation to comply with its provisions and to give it full effect in its domestic legislation. Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Nigeria is obligated to ensure:

•the right to fresh, safe and sufficient water that is of an acceptable color, odor and taste for each personal or domestic use;

•right to be free from interference, such as the right to be free from arbitrary disconnections or contamination of water supplies;

•the right to a system of water supply and management that provides equality of opportunity for people to enjoy the right to water;

•non-discriminatory economic and physical access to potable water and water facilities such as piped water networks, water tankers, rivers and wells

•adequate sanitation;

•that the water supply for each person must be sufficient and continuous for personal and domestic uses;

•that the water required for each personal or domestic use must be safe, therefore free from micro-organisms, chemical substances and radiological hazards that constitute and threat to a person’s health;

•the right to seek, receive and impart information concerning water issues

However, the negative attitude of the Nigerian government in respect to the promotion and protection of the right to water is further illustrated by its continuing refusal to cooperate with the Committee, including by failing to submit its second periodic report, due since 1 January 2000.

The centre piece of the international efforts to promote economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to water is the Committee. The Committee is the only body within the UN system devoted entirely to these rights, and to monitor full compliance by states parties with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. As such, the Committee is an important role to play in ensuring Nigeria’s full compliance with its voluntary obligations under the Covenant, and securing the credibility and efficacy of the Covenant’s provisions.
SERAP therefore calls on the Committee to demand that the Nigerian government should:

•Incorporate the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which contains comprehensive provisions on economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to water into domestic laws.

•Adopt legislation and regulations at all levels of government implementing the standards set forth in the Covenant (and General Comment 15 on the Right to Water) and other relevant human rights treaties and declarations.

•Develop national plan, with full public participation, to achieve progressively the full realization of the right to water.

•Submit its second periodic report, which is significantly overdue to the Committee. Nigeria has failed to submit this report due since 1 January 2000. The Committee should make it clear to the government that in the absence of a report, the Committee will proceed with consideration of the status of economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to water in Nigeria, on the basis of information obtained from other sources, including from non-governmental organizations.

•Publicly acknowledge that the greatness of a country is accurately measured not by the personal fortunes of its wealthiest citizens, but by the degree to which all its citizens and residents are able to freely exercise their economic, social, cultural, civil, and political rights, and to flourish within a just society mindful of the good of all persons, including the weakest and most vulnerable.


Yours sincerely,


Adetokunbo Mumuni
Executive Director

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