South-East’s unending quest to attain open defecation free society by 2025 (1)

By Odogwu Emeka Odogwu
During the long dry season, there were some actions we took that came after us as the first rains for the year 2020 dropped.

The animal dungs, particularly the indiscriminate cow dungs across our streets and paths, and human excreta in the bushes and gutters though dried, as well as other household wastes floated as the flood drive them down to our streams and water sources. This is one out of the consequences of Open defecation. ODOGWU EMEKA ODOGWU x-rays the dangers of open defecation and the futile efforts in South-East to checkmate it before 2025.
I watched with trepidation of heart as flood carry these debris down our streams and I wonder what becomes of our villagers who still depend on streams and rivers to get their only sources of water. These people use these streams and river waters to process some of the vegetables like Bitter leaf (Onugbu), even Abacha and cassava (Akpu) for everyone to consume. At worst case scenario, they drink it while in farms and at homes.

Similarly, I was traveling to Ebonyi state and ran into a full bus at Ugwuoba axis of Enugu state where half of its occupants were inside the bush defecating while others were urinating. There were no location along the highways for people to stop and ease off if pressed. These dry human excreta flowing about and the passengers I saw defecating in the bush drew my mind on the continued existence of open defecation in our society in spite of the campaigns and I marvel at what the efforts on campaign against open defecation so far has yielded.

And a trip to some of the Ogbe Hausa (Hausa quarters) across South East exposed high rate of open defecation and reckless human waste disposal without authorities of government blinking an eyelid in that direction.

Watching closely travellers across the south east, I observed that commercial buses stop during their journey for the passengers to urinate or defecate in the bush nearby the road. This is a common practice across Nigeria and may even be worse in long distance trips. What’s the health implications after the rains washed them to our streams and same water used to process our eatables, even as drinking water? Are authorities in the south east paying attention to efforts to discourage open defecation? Are there public toilets on the highways and in public places? If there are public toilets in public places, are they working? If the toilets exist, are they clean to attract patronage? Why are there faeces under our bridges, inside gutters and beside uncompleted buildings away from staring eyes? Why should traders in the markets, motorists and other residents excrete in polythene bags and dispose in dustbins or dump bins along the streets and bushes?
Are there mobile toilets around south-east? Are there public schools both primary, secondary and tertiary and government offices without toilets, thus encouraging open defecation? Are there toilets but locked up from visitors use? Are there markets without toilet facilities in South-East? If there are public toilets, why should fresh faeces be seen everywhere? Are the universities with adequate toilet facilities or the sanitation facilities overstretched that some students devise means of defecating in the open or adopt throwaway methodology, which is defecate in a polythene bag and throw away in the bush or dustbin?
With the level of open defecation, what’s the environment like? Smelly and unhealthy or clean and healthy? What efforts are on the ground to eliminate open defecation by 2025?

With the 2016/2017 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey by UNICEF, open defecation in Nigeria remained the second highest prevalence in the world as 25 per cent of Nigerians defecate openly and only three LGAs in the country were open defecation free as at then, more have attained open defecation free, but the journey is still far.

My fears were confirmed when I read that the World Health Organisation was saying that open defecation pollutes the environment and causes health problems linked with the high prevalence of water-borne infectious diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea and hepatitis A, among others as well as high child mortality, poor nutrition and poverty in the country.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) also was quoted as saying that open defecation is one of the major causes of cholera in the country. The rains are here and there are chances cholera among others will be on the increase.
With these level of open defecation, how can South East attain Goal 6 of the UN sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030? Can Nigeria be open defecation free by 2030? Is it attainable? Can Nigeria invest over N2.88 trillion ($8.3 Billion) to tackle open defecation?

According to Ogwo, P.A and Ogu, O.G, open defecation exposes our streams to be contaminated with E coli, total nitrogen and fecal coliform bacteria because of debris, faeces picked from storm water runoff. The researchers said there is also higher pH, EC, turbidity, TSS, TDS, BOD and COD than the WHO and Nigeria Federal Ministry of Environment maximum permissible limits. The surface water streams are thus contaminated and therefore are not fit for drinking without proper treatment. But, what is attainable in South-East in particular and Nigeria at large isn’t anything to write home about. The number of urban dwellers practicing open defecation increased from 140 million in 1990 to 169 million in 2008. What is the number now? Your guess is as good as mine! Rather than abating, it is unfortunately increasing by the day.

In South East, wastewater and sewage are discharged directly into the sea or rivers or nearby empty space without treatment creating more problems for the rural folks. Access to water and sanitation is a fundamental human right and every individual has a right to portable source of water which is the third target under the Millennium Development Goals 7 (Environmental Sustainability). It seeks to improve access to sustainable water and improved sanitation.

According to Erin Flynn, Research Manager at WaterAid, Nigeria since 2004, the Nigerian government through Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS), helped communities assess their sanitation situation, move them up the sanitation ladder.

Last year’s world toilet day had journalists engaged to advocate for clean toilets for all, with the theme, “leaving no one behind”. An estimated 47 million people do not use toilets in Nigeria and this has caused nearly 87,000 diarrheal deaths in children under the age of five.
The Minister, Federal Ministry of Environment, (FMoE), Alhaji Muhammad Mahmood Abubakar had said, “the Federal Government is committed to addressing the sanitation challenges, including open defecation in the country and ensuring proper management of excreta. This commitment is in line with the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s declaration of a state of emergency on water, sanitation and hygiene in the country in November 2018.”

Mahmood assured that, “The Ministry has provided sanitation training infrastructure by equipping the practical demonstration of facilities of colleges of Health Technology at Keffi, Nassarawa State, Kallungo in Gombe State, Kankia- Katsina State, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Ugheli, Delta State, and Umudike Abia State. We have just 11 years to go to the 2030 deadline. Let us redouble our efforts, to provide universal access to toilets, leaving no one behind.”

There was a 10, 000-man march against open defecation, community awareness campaigns and commissioning of practical demonstration facilities for the Department of Environmental Health at the University of Ibadan and the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi, Anambra State. Have all these yielded any results?

WHO Nigeria’s Officer in Charge (OiC), Dr Clement Peter represented by Dr Rex Mpazanje at the event had said, “We commend the Government of Nigeria for launching the open defecation free campaign and congratulate the States that are already implementing this and making notable achievements in some local government areas”.
“Large cities like Abuja to particularly address the plight of sanitation workers; those who empty and clean our toilets, septic tanks, and sewers in our homes, offices and public places. They need protective equipment. WHO looks forward to continued collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment and other partners on improvement of sanitation so that all Nigerians have access to adequate sanitation as a human right”.

Sanitation is key to human healthy existence. Can Nigeria be open-defecation-free by 2025? Why is that over 50 million people still defecate in the open in Nigeria? Why is Nigeria lagging behind the milestone on sanitation coverage set by the Draft National Water-Sanitation Policy, 2004?
According to World Bank, Nigeria loses NGN 455 billion annually (equivalent of US$ 3 billion) due to poor sanitation or US$ 20 per person. This constitutes 1.3% of the national GDP. It says also that open defecation alone costs Nigeria US$ 1 billion per year (at 2010 prices) and this works out to US$ 6 per capita taking into account the estimated 2010 population.

Chief for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) for United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, in Nigeria, Zaid Jurji, disclosed that 60 million Nigerians do not have access to potable water and that 88 per cent of diarrhoea cases in the country was caused by a combination of open defecation and lack of potable water. UNICEF’s official, Moustapha Niang, at the EU-UNICEF WASH media dialogue in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, noted that 46 million people in the country practice open defecation and that additional 56 million Nigerians are estimated to join this number in the next 10 years, translating to a total of 102 million people or 20 million households.
Only India ranked worse than Nigeria in the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH NORM) survey conducted by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The Nigerian Ministry of Water Resources and National Bureau of Statistics took part in the Nigerian survey.

The survey also found that only 11 of the 774 local government areas in Nigeria are free from the practice of open defecation.

When shall it be mandatory, provision of toilet facilities in schools, health centres, market places, motor parks, busy routes, recreation centres, jetties, places of worship and communities in Nigeria particularly South East? Is there a legal instrument against open defection practice? A 2012 World Bank report claimed that about 122,000 Nigerians including 87,000 children under the age of five, die each year from diarrhoea, directly connected to poor access to potable water, poor sanitation and hygiene. Scaring? UNICEF has a roadmap that will make Nigeria open-defecation-free by 2025 which has a cost burden to be borne by households and the three tiers of government. It has also been established that one of the major reasons for iron deficiency anaemia among adolescent girls and young mothers is worm infestation, attributed to open defecation.

The government’s drive to achieve access to portable water, sanitation and hygiene, has seen to the expansion of the WASH project with the launch of Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo as well as the ministerial launch of the national open-defecation-free (ODF) road map by the Information and Culture Ministry.

Is culture and tradition slowing down open defecation free campaign?

Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is an effective approach towards accelerating sanitation access in the country as it has grown from 15 ODF communities in 2008 to over 14,000 ODF communities in 2016 still counting. It is on record that achieving an ODF Nigeria would require constructing nearly 20 million household toilets and 43,000 toilets in schools, health centres and public places requiring an average annual investment of about NGN 100 billion (approximately 75% household investment; 25% government contribution).
So stated Bidhu Bhushan Samanta, an international consultant engaged to lead the development of this ODF roadmap with three phases – the initial preparatory phase, followed by the consolidation phase and the final assault phase.

President Buhari takes the lead with signing of open defecation free Executive order 009

Interestingly, President Muhammadu Buhari Buhari had signed Executive Order 009 which is titled ‘The Open Defecation-Free Nigeria by 2025 and Other Related Matters Order.’ The signing of the order is to ensure Nigeria becomes open defecation free by 2025.

The order “established in the Federal Ministry of Water Resources has a National Secretariat called “Clean Nigeria Campaign Secretariat”.

“The Secretariat is authorized on behalf of the President to implement this Order by ensuring 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.”

The Order declares as follows:

1. That by this Order, Nigeria is committed to being open defecation free by 2025.

2. That the National Open Defecation Free (ODF) Roadmap developed by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources with support from other key sector players across Nigeria be put into effect.

3. a. There is established in the Federal Ministry of Water Resources a National Secretariat called “Clean Nigeria Campaign Secretariat”.
b. The Secretariat is authorized on behalf of the President to implement this Order by ensuring 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.

4. All Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government shall cooperate with the Clean Nigeria Campaign Secretariat.

5. The National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly shall enact legislation on the practice of open defecation with appropriate sanctions and penalties.

6. All development projects shall include construction of sanitation facilities as an integral part of the approval and implementation process.

7. The Secretariat shall terminate when Nigeria is declared Open Defecation Free.

8. All enforcement authorities are hereby directed to diligently collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources in implementing this Order.
President Buhari had declared a State of Emergency on Nigeria’s water supply, sanitation and hygiene sector, the action being imperative as it will reduce the high prevalence of water borne diseases in different parts of the country which have caused preventable deaths;

To be continued on part 2 ? (https://www.odogwublog.com/south-easts-unending-quest-to-attain-open-defecation-free-society-by-2025-2/) ………….

This investigative piece was written by Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, PhD. Odogwu, a culture and tradition aficionado and a foodie is a known Journalist, Editor, Media Consultant and famous Blogger, as well as Social Media Entrepreneur, publisher and Conversationalist @ www.odogwublog.com among others.

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