By Temple Oraeki

A visit to some of the public schools in the suburbs of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory revealed the decadence and stark reality of children without access to a toilet. In most of the schools visited, the unsafe structure that served as the toilet was either under lock because there is no water to maintain it or abandoned due to its dilapidated status. 

Some of the students who were interviewed on where they relieve themselves if pressed during school hours reluctantly pointed to a nearby open field or bush. Upon further inquiry about their knowledge of the dangers of open defecation, most of them responded that they are aware of the dangers but have no other choice. 

To trigger the children on the link between access to food and toilet, 13-year old Hadiza, when asked what will be her fate if she is only allowed to eat when she has access to a toilet. 

“I’ll die of starvation because, in my school, we cannot use the toilet because it is always locked and there’s no roof or water to flush,” She responded with an awkward gaze.

Hadiza’s response is not different from that of millions of school children in Nigeria, where 52 per cent of the schools lack basic toilet facilities that hygienically separate human excreta from human contact. These school children left with limited choice, make nearby bushes, uncompleted buildings and farmlands, their place of convenience to answer nature’s call. 

This is applicable in other community spaces like health centres, motor parks, markets, religious and event centres across Nigeria.  

Hunger created by lack of toilets

Why does hunger persist in a world of plenty? In a world where enough food is produced to feed everyone on the planet, why do 821 million people still face chronic undernourishment? If food production is not the issue, what then can we do to end global hunger? 

The answers to these questions might be less elusive if we pay more attention to how the lack of access to the toilet is contributing to global hunger.

On World Food Day, people around the world promote awareness and take action for those who suffer from hunger and declare their commitment to eradicate global hunger. 

Food, just like water, is invaluable and life-sustaining. It brings people together. But have we given a thought to what happens when we eat or feed people but there is no access to a convenience to answer nature’s call? What happens when our children use their playground as a toilet because there is no toilet at home?  

Open defecation comes with many risks and negative impacts, amongst which is its contribution to global hunger. This inextricable link between open defecation and hunger is common but rarely recognized. Families living in areas where open defecation is widely practiced, usually face a high incidence of water-borne diseases, especially amongst the children. These outbreaks of water-borne diseases eat deep into the nutritional health and pockets of families. The little income they have is spent on medical bills. For such families, hunger and starvation is always a close ally. 

Children living in areas without toilets and with high open defecation practices are often undernourished because they are exposed to bacterial brew. According to Jean Humphrey, a professor of human nutrition at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the bodies of these children divert energy and nutrients away from growth and brain development to prioritize infection-fighting survival. “When this happens during the first two years of life, children become stunted. What’s particularly disturbing is that the lost height and intelligence are permanent.” 

How do we get 47 million Nigerians to stop open defecation?

The practice of open defecation has been a menace and a clog in the wheel of development in Nigeria. It hampers economic growth and also infringes on people’s privacy and dignity. Almost one in five Nigerians – around 40 million people – defecates in open areas. A figure which places Nigeria as the Open Defecation Capital of Africa and only ranked second globally, behind India, as the country with the highest number of people practicing open defecation. This unsavoury and demeaning reality prompted the government to declare a state-of-emergency in Nigeria’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector, in November 2018. 

While the Nigeria sanitation status should be of deep concern to decision-makers, it amounts to a full-blown crisis for those directly affected, which according to former UN Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson called their plight ‘a silent disaster’ that reflects the extreme poverty and huge inequalities in the world today. 

To address this sanitation crisis, the Federal Government of Nigeria has taken some bold steps; one of which is the recent introduction of the “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet” campaign. The campaign is aimed at coordinating interventions to end open defecation in Nigeria by 2025. The robust citizen-led campaign is multisectoral and can only be effectively implemented through a concerted effort of all key stakeholders in the WASH Sector. 

The political will shown by the federal government in tackling the sanitation crisis is just a launchpad to galvanize further actions. 

Recognizing the need for synergy and grassroots engagement, UNICEF as a key development partner in the Clean Nigeria campaign has been coordinating dialogue meetings and workshops with other key stakeholders (Media, CSOs and private sector) that will drive the Campaign. On the other hand, Hope Spring Water Charity Foundation, a youth-led non-governmental organization has been engaging the academia and youths in communities to lead the campaign to end open defecation in Nigeria.

The private sector, research institutions, and academia have key roles to play in ending open defecation in Nigeria. Corporate Social Responsibility projects of organizations should be targeted towards the provision of toilets, while relevant research institutions and academia are charged with innovations in low-cost sanitation technologies. 

The sanitation value chain offers huge investment and job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths and aspiring entrepreneurs.  Multisectoral collaborations amongst key stakeholders can help harness these opportunities.

In some communities where open defecation is a cultural practice, there is a need for massive triggering and sensitization that will spark behavioural change amongst such community members. Enhanced collaborations between CSOs, development partners, government and private sector organizations are needed to drive this behavioural change campaign. 

The Community-Led Total Sanitation, which has been instrumental in achieving ODF in 13 out of the 774 LGAs needs to be strengthened by incorporating Sanitation Marketing as part of its implementation process. 

In terms of financing, there is a need for more engagement of microfinance banks or the provision of subsidies for sanitation technologies. The informal sanitation workers should be reintegrated into a formal scheme, that would enable them to easily access loans. On the other hand, the unbanked population can be trained on a savings scheme, such as the Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) scheme, to enable them to purchase toilets for their homes. 

We can end hunger in Nigeria and achieve the Zero hunger targets of the SDGs when every Nigerian has access to and use toilets. If you eat, then you must own and use a toilet. We eat to stay alive but without toilets, how do we survive?

About the author

Temple Oraeki is the Nigeria Country Representative of Hope Spring Water Charity Foundation.