How Nigeria can be rid of its badge of shame as top African country practising open defecation

There is the popular saying that “when it rains, it pours.” But when nature calls, what happens? Well, No one can refuse it. Perhaps this explains why many Nigerians – 47 million people – find it pleasing to defecate in open spaces even in many of the cities in Nigeria.

This common practice is often found in public places such as railways, motor parks, airport terminal buildings, filling stations, footpaths, highways, street roads, playgrounds, prayer houses, forests, and stadiums. A habit that is endangering human lives and the environment.

The practice of open defecation has earned Nigeria a badge of shame – as we are recognized globally as the country with the largest number of people that defecate in the open in Africa and second-largest in the world – after India.

In the Municipal area of Calabar State, Obutang beach community to be precise, residents defecate in the open and throw their faeces into the nearby river, which also serves as a source of drinking. Houses built in this community do not have functional toilets. The few houses that manage to have been badly built that it has since failed to serve its purpose.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in a recently released data, says out of the 47 million Nigerians that practice open defecation, 17.9 percent live in the south-south region of Nigeria. Calabar is among the region mentioned in this report.

In a visit to Obutang, a predominantly fishing community in Calabar Municipal, residents could be seen washing their nets at the bank of the river. In a chat with Asuquo Essien, a resident in the community, he stated that he defecates in the river daily, saying only a few people in the area have toilets.

Asuquo explained further that the river flushes the faeces, which then makes the water safe for fishing and drinking. Another fisherman in the community, Israel Mesembe, corroborated Asuquo’s claim, saying he has never come in contact with faeces while fishing. According to him, the faeces are washed away by the river and do not cause any harm to the fishes.

“It’s only the tilapia fishes that eat faeces. But, even at that, when we catch them, we use a properly boiled water to wash them well to ensure that they are not contaminated,” Mesembe said.

However, these beliefs were rebuffed by Deborah Patrick, a nurse in the community’s health centre. In an exclusive interview with her, she mentioned that many of the residents do come to the health centre to treat cases of typhoid, malaria, diarrhoea, cholera, and malnutrition. This according to her, emanates from the continued use of the same river where they throw faeces as the source of water for drinking and cooking.

Although many of the villagers argued that they boil the water after fetching it from the river, Nurse Patrick, however, explained that the bacteria in the water can only get killed if boiled at 100 degrees Celsius.

“Most of them that come from that area have recently been complaining of typhoid and malaria, and then malnutrition.

“We used to have diarrhoea cases from them too. The recent cases we have been having from them is typhoid, malaria, and malnutrition for children. When they come, we compel them to run tests because they have a stream where they drink water from. But, presently, they installed a borehole there for them. But it is not everybody that will use the borehole. Some will say they have put a chemical in the borehole. They are used to the river.

“Some of them have pits where they defecate. But most of them, especially the male, defecate in the river.”

Nurse Patrick further disclosed that the health centre is usually their last resort when they fall ill because they depend on local herbs or administer over the counter drugs when they are sick.

With India fast approaching its target deadline for eliminating open defecation, Nigeria has set a 2025 deadline to achieve the same goal. The plan to meet this deadline involves providing equitable access to water, sanitation, and hygiene services and strengthening tailored community approaches to total sanitation.

Development partners like UNICEF have since joined in the campaign to end open defecation in Nigeria, alongside the World Bank and African Development Bank.

At a two-Day Media Dialogue in Calabar State recently, Dr. Geoffrey Njoku, Communication Specialist with UNICEF, said the “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet” campaign is aimed at creating awareness to end the menace by 2025.
His words: “There is need to create awareness about the Clean Nigeria, Use the Toilet campaign and mobilise resources to sustain the national movement.”

At the federal level, a national secretariat has been established to manage all the affairs and efforts to end open defecation and revitalise the water, sanitation, and hygiene sector in the country. The Nigerian government has also approved the sum of ten billion naira (N10billion) to fight open defecation. The approved sum, which is domiciled with the Federal Ministry of Water resources, would be accessed annually to put into place, mechanisms carefully planned and structured to end open defecation in the country before the end of 2025.

To be rid of the badge of shame, there is a need to approach the campaign to end open defecation with a sense of urgency. Experts are calling on the government to give an extra push for heightened awareness among people about the benefit of using toilets.

“There should be more focus on increasing awareness about the harmful consequences of open defecation through large‐scale behaviour change campaigns,” says Dr. Sola Osindero, a public health practitioner in Lagos, Nigeria.