Nigeria, Sept. 16 -- Philip Jakpor reclined in his chair, his fingers drumming lightly on the wooden table inside his Lagos office.

"Lagos has an economy that is in billions of dollars annually, so Lagos has no basis to say there is no money to fund the water sector," said Mr Jakpor, 42, an activist who works with the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria.

Since 2014, the cloud of privatisation has been hanging over the Lagos State water sector, a move the government said would increase water supply to Lagos' more than 21 million residents.

Although the state government rakes in an average of N300 billion (about $9.8 million) annually in revenue - the highest in the country and nearly 40 per cent of the entire revenu...