World Toilet Day: Stakeholders Advocate for Government Intervention in Communities
Yinka Olatunbosun
In a bid to lend a voice to the global action against public defecation, advocates are leading community-based campaigns and online petitions to call for urgent government intervention in this public health crisis.
On November 5, 2024, Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Terlumum Utsev, called for an intensified national commitment and a call to action urging state governments and diverse stakeholders including civil society organisations to work towards making Nigeria Open Defecation Free (ODF) by 2025.
On November 19, which is globally observed as the World Toilet Day, Nguvu Change Leader John Ogunsemore turned the spotlight on a 100-year-old riverine community called Itun Agan in Amuwo Odofin, Lagos, with over 10,000 residents, which has no provision for safe sanitation currently.
In an online petition, Ogunsemore appealed to Valentine Buraimoh, the Executive Chairman of Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area, to address the urgent need for public toilets in Itun Agan.
With consistent and dedicated efforts, 135 of Nigeria’s 774 local government areas have been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF). Still, the dream of an ODF country remains elusive, as UNICEF reported in September this year, that Nigeria requires approximately 20 million toilets to eliminate open defecation in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
Though there is a dire need for a shift in collective sanitation behaviour, Ogunsemore believes Nigeria will miss the goal of becoming an open defecation-free country by 2025 if policy-makers do not actively acknowledge and address this issue’s social and environmental implications.
“Not to mention its impact on human health and dignity, “Ogunsemore says and adds, “It is unimaginable that in this day and age, the lack of public toilets is forcing residents, be they aged, ill or pregnant, to climb over wooden boats in order to defecate openly in the Lagos Lagoon.”
Open defecation is not only creating unsanitary conditions for the residents but also posing a threat to aquatic animals.
According to him, “The construction of a public toilet in the region close to World Toilet Day would not only restore the personal dignity of the community but also enhance public and environmental health which is currently in jeopardy.”
The 2021 (Water Sanitation and Hygiene National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASHNORM) report had also reported that around 48 million Nigerians still practise open defecation, which leads to Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) including onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, trachoma, lymphatic filariasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH).
According to a report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), more than 100,000 children under five years of age die each year due to diarrhoea. Of these cases, 90 per cent cases are directly attributable to unsafe water and sanitation.
The absence of sanitation systems and poor hygiene practices perpetuate the cycle of poor health and poverty though local governments are striving to change the narrative. In September this year, Kaduna State’s nine local government areas (LGAs) were officially validated as Open Defecation Free. In October this year, the ODF milestone was also achieved in Ado and Ohimini LGAs of Benue State.
