Civil society organisations and activists led by Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) Wednesday raised alarm over plan by the Lagos State government to privatise water supply in the state through a World Bank-assisted Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, saying it is yet another white elephant project that is not in the interest of Lagosians. In a press briefing to kick-start campaign against take-off of the project in Lagos by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's private arm, ERA/FoEN lamented that the scheme had a record of failures in Manila, Ghana, several Asian nations and other climes and called on Lagosians to vehemently check its take-off in the state. The IFC is currently acting in an official advisory capacity with the Lagos State government. Speaking on behalf of the CSOs that included Corporate Accountability International, ERA/FoEN spokesperson and Director of Corporate Accountability, Akinbode Oluwafemi, while stressing that they were ready for a long battle against propagation of the scheme which MoU had already been signed, lamented that the state government had obtained loans from the World Bank and other international donor agencies since 1979 for water schemes which had failed, adding that allowing corporations that are profit driven to gain control would be a grave mistake. He said more worrisome about the contract was that it is shrouded in secrecy adding that "if the Lagos project succeeds, ordinary Lagosians already burdened with huge costs of procuring water for drinking and other uses will be further levied while those that cannot pay will be excluded from a basic right they are entitled to." The group therefore demanded that the state government not only ensure full disclosure of the PPP contract, but also halt the project because of its negative impacts as it will neither provide additional fund for necessary infrastructure improvements nor provide water that citizens require.