Open defecation which used to be the practice in slum communities appears to have defied all measures in urban communities. Amidst failed campaigns and new frontiers employed by stakeholders, KEHINDE OSASONA in this report asks if the practice will ever end.
Why open defecation?
Open defecation has been described as the human practice of defecating in the open rather than into a toilet.
At different public forums, experts in public health in the country have adduced that people defecating in places like bushes, forests, streets, canals and other open spaces do so because they do not have a readily accessible toilet or simply following traditional cultural practices.
It has also been established by experts in the health sector that 85 per cent of open defecators live in the rural areas, and that people in the poorest quintile are nine times more likely to defecate in the open than those from the richest quintile.
As a pointer to fears raised by the experts, the
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) had in a survey conducted alongside the Nigerian Ministry of Water Resources and National Bureau of Statistics, concluded that only India ranked worse than Nigeria in the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH NORM).
But despite its pledge to meeting the global target set by the United Nations, stakeholders still consider as worrisome the Nigeria ranking amongst eight countries having more than five million open defecators.
Although UNICEF has set a goal which aimed at reducing by 2021 the proportion of population practicing open defecation from 25.4% (122 million) to 15.5% (88 million), it is not known how Nigeria intend to key into that to save not only the children, inhabitants but also the environment from further health hazard.
Today, in Nigeria, field experiences as reeled out by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and relevant stakeholders in the public health services points to the fact that open defecation in the country has indeed become worrisome.
Although before now, agencies and development partners had rolled out all forms of sensitisation and campaign as a way of combating the scourge, with the unfolding development. It appears as if the scourge has defied all measures as advanced by concerned Nigerians.
The question that is agitating the minds of communities, urban inhabitants and Nigerians therefore has been: ‘Will the trend ever change?’
President Buhari’s initiative
When President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Executive Order 009 which is titled ‘The Open Defecation-Free Nigeria by 2025 and Other Related Matters Order in 2019, it was to ensure that Nigeria becomes open defecation-free by 2025.
The order signed by President Buhari is expected to help address the menace and discourage about 47 million Nigerians said to be practicing open defecation.
According to the president, the statistics on open defecation and access to pipe borne water service and sanitation was disturbing; hence government commitment to implement the National Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Action Plan.
By the Order “The Secretariat is authorised on behalf of the President to implement ensure that all public places including schools, hotels, fuel stations, places of worship, market places, hospitals and offices have accessible toilets and latrines within their premises.”
Toilet campaigns
In taking stock of the Clean Nigeria; Use the toilet Campaign, last month, the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, said the private sector initiative was designed to ensure open-defecation-free local government areas.
A statement by the ministry’s director of information, Kenechukwu Offie, said, “Its first anniversary will unveil the Organised Private Sector in Water Sanitation and Hygiene (OPS-WASH) “Flushit” Initiative.
“There will also be an investiture of Ambassadors for “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign. Governors will also be decorated as Open Defecation Free (ODF) Champions,” the statement read in part.
Speaking to newsmen on the campaign towards ending the practice in Abuja, the acting coordinator of the Clean Nigeria campaign, Ms. Chizoma Opara, noted that the country has a unique opportunity to build sanitation around the activities.
The federal government, according to her, has taken steps to stem the tide, and that stakeholders are increasingly recognising the interlink ages between the practice of open defecation and other challenges, such as high child mortality, high levels of poverty, and malnutrition.
Opara, who has been working in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector for about two decades, equally advocated a strategy that includes private-sector investment, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and funding from partners, in a way that addresses the demands and gaps created by community led total sanitation (CLTS).
She said, “The Clean Nigeria initiative is canvassing for the adoption and deployment of a roadmap that gives priority to CLTS Double Plus, hinged on sanitation marketing and hygiene promotion, amongst other approaches.
“So, we are looking at using the CLTS but taking it to CLTS Double Plus. It will not just be community led total sanitation but there could also be other things that will go with it. A good example is sanitation marketing, which can fill the gaps that are often created from CLTS after the triggering process.
“That is what the CLTS Double Plus is all about and that is where we are coming from. The agenda of this government is to generate employment and I know that the sanitation sector can do it.”
Way out
According to the much-anticipated national road map to make Nigeria open defecation free in 2025, the country loses N455 billion $1.2 billion) annually to poor sanitation.
Not only that, it was gathered that Nigeria needs an estimated N959 billion ($2.6 billion) to end open defecation in the next five years, with the government expected to provide around 25 per cent of this amount. The other 75 per cent is expected to be borne by the private sector and households.
With the regulatory frameworks, stakeholders in the health sector expect UNICEF to continue to support community involvement and also increase their capacities.
Similarly, they say providing an enabling environment for the private sector to provide adequate and affordable sanitation services would go a long way in enhancing the campaigns and efforts.
It has also been suggested that in promoting changes of behaviors’ and social norms, data must be made available to increase the accountability of duty bearers at all strata of involvement geared towards total eradication of the practic
