As the country heads to the end of the year, President Muhammadu Buhari is declaring war on open defecation with the signing of Executive Order 009 on Wednesday November 20, 2019 which is titled, “The Open Defecation–Free Nigeria by 2025 and other related matters.’’
This is cheering news because it is seldom a topic politicians would want to champion. The order signed by Buhari is expected to address this menace within five years. Nigerians cannot live on an island as open defecation is waning worldwide; in 2015, the United Nations called for an end to open defection by 2030 and that was why the President is toeing the same line of action.
But the Federal Government should know that diffusing open defecation from poverty will repeatedly derail the effort to tame it. The government therefore should look deeper than legislation, as in a city where there are no adequate housing and pipe borne water, the people have no option than to defecate in any available space. Report has it that about 25 per cent of the population lack access to toilet facilities, meaning that more than 47 million Nigerians are entangled in this mire.
Open defecation is the act of discharging of bowels in the open without the use of suitably designed configurations built for handling of human wastes. It simply means toileting in the fields, roadsides, forests, bushes, open bodies of water, on beaches or by train tracks, and such likes.
Reports have it that the number of the people defecating in the open in sub-Sahara Africa and Asia is intimidating, where you still see the old rising early in the morning to go to the fields. Some revel in them while others who live in the wretched hovels of mud and straw queue with a container in hands waiting to empty their wastes into the toilet holes. This is not only disgusting but also barbaric.
Open defecation therefore is a massive risk to the health of children as well as the dignity of man in many parts of West Africa. The urban areas are not excluded as people defecate into the drainage systems that are usually meant to traffic rain water away into natural waterways. A case study is when driving on the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos early in the morning to the office, you see young men stooping atop the drainage that link the main water and in shanties to empty their bowels. Most of them believe that water washes away their waste oblivious of the fact that when such wastes are mixed with drinking water, they result in water-borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and trachoma.
Further still, one can see waste metamorphoses into heaps like Kilimanjaro at some designations in Lagos, which attract flies and other insects, no one knows if these wastes are for humans or animals. Whichever it might be, the flies that perch on such heaps then travel around the surrounding areas carrying waste matter and disease-causing microbes, where they can land on food and drinking water that people go ahead and consume innocently.
The chief reason why people indulge in it is poverty, the inability to build latrines or toilets. We also have cultural norms and a long time tradition restricting the use of latrine. Closely related to the above is the inventive reason where women are restricted from using the same latrine as men and as such women are compelled to look out for open defecation.
The question is, why is open defecation a big concern?
It is a huge concern because poor sanitation contaminates water and food supplies, making it one of the most deadly issues the developing world faces today.
It is a massive worry because women are vulnerable to rape in the remote areas that still practise this ancient act.
It is a big issue because girls drop out of school as soon as they start menstruating in schools where toilets are dysfunctional or non-existent.
It is an important task as we have heard of a story of snake bite when a man was going to defecate while it was still dark.
Today, in some local areas, brides often refuse to marry to those without toilets, so funny but it is a serious concern.
At present, scientists have reiterated the effect of open defecation which has resulted in children picking up parasites and chronic infections that impair the ability of the intestines to absorb nutrients.
At the moment, some villagers still believe that the Creator has given them free rein to pollute the field, “why must they be deprived of open defecation?’’ What a thought!
What then is the solution to open defecation in Nigeria? The solution to open defecation takes the effort of the government and the goodwill of the individual to provide public toilets for the areas massively in need.
It is also important to disabuse the minds of those who still believe that toilets are not supposed to be shared. In other words, cultural norms and beliefs must be changed over time through increase in public awareness. There should be constant programmes on television, radio and newspaper to promote personal hygiene and sanitation; for instance, hundreds of child death could be avoided by using toilets and washing hands.
In Lagos for instance, there are so many homeless people. According to www.bbc.com, “You don’t have to look too hard to see that homelessness is a big problem in Nigeria’s biggest city, Lagos. Some sleep under bridges, in doorways, on street corners.’’ While others set up shanties in slums, bamboo and corrugated iron sheets, that is poverty! Even those with shelter covering their heads, you see them scampering for water early in the morning.
The issue of open defecation is therefore more complex than passing a bill but as they say, the journey of a thousand miles starts with a step.
It is when the government has played its own role through provision of adequate housing, water and toilets in strategic places, can it introduce a “snapcrap” which allows residents to upload a photo of an offending specimen directly to government portal. The Poop Patrol can then take it up from there…
But frankly, for a healthy future, we all need to walk together and achieve open defecation-free Nigeria by 2025 as outlined in the President’s order. Will this happen? I have banished impossibility in my repertoire of words.
Anjorin wrote in from Lagos via olusanyaanjorin@gmail.com +234 8032826650
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