Open Defecation: Lagos needs 190,000  toilets 

By Abolaji Adebayo

Lagos needs not less than 190,000 public toilets to eradicate open defecation due to the huge daily  influx of migrants into the city.

Sanitation experts told Echonews that over10 million persons need to use the facilities daily across the 20 local government areas (LGs) and 37 local council development areas (LCDAs).

Approximately, each local council area needs about 3,000 standard toilets to cater for the increasing population.

As gathered by ECHONEWS, out of the needed estimated toilets, the state already has 1,200 built public toilets. The local governments and private sector have provided 2,000 mobile toilets.

However, ECHONEWS  gathered that only 618 out of the 1,200 built toilets are certified and registered by the government.

Lagos State government owns 40 public toilets as intervention support to the state while the local governments own 300 public toilets being their primary duty.

With 9,425,622 population, there are approximately 900 toilets in London registered as part of the National Key Scheme run by the disability charity RADAR.

In 2018 there were 4,486 toilets run by major councils in the UK, down from 5,159 in 2010. In 37 areas, major councils no longer run any public conveniences. Highland Council maintains most public toilets (92), followed by Gwynedd (73) and Pembrokeshire (73).

In New York City with population of 8.82 million, there are 1,103 public bathrooms around New York City. However, only two of these facilities are open 24/7, creating a serious problem for anyone looking for a bathroom late at night.

With its current number of public toilets, Lagos State is at par with other international destinations.

The Chief Operating Officer of A-mobile Group, Mrs Damilola Oloruntade, who noted the menace of persistent open defecation in Lagos State, said there is need for urgent action from both the government and private sector.

Being the commercial hub of the country with inflow of immigrants, Lagos State is one of the states with higher level of open defecation in Nigeria.

If the figure proposed by Oloruntade is attained, it is believed that the menace would be eradicated and Lagos would be competing better with international counterparts.

Japan is leading the way among the countries with highest number of public toilets, followed by The United Kingdom, Switzerland., Scandinavia, Germany, America, and China.

Oloruntade said there are about 2,000 mobile toilets in Lagos presently, emphasising that the state still has greater deficit of mobile toilets.

She noted that the attitude of the residents greatly affects the deployment of mobile toilets in different locations across the state.

She said the government needs to enforce its policy on open defecation.

Narrating her experience while deploying mobile toilets at Obalende, Oloruntade said her effort was frustrated by some area boys demanding N200,000 before the toilet could be placed in the area.

She stated that most of the toilets are not used by some residents who prefer defecating in their potty and throw into the gutter, adding that a times, instead of using the toilet they would defecate on open ground beside the toilets.

According to the United Nations, World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the extent of open defecation in Nigeria varies from as low as 1.2% of households in Abia to as high as 65.8% in Kogi. Other States that show higher than the national average (37%) with regard to open defecation practices are Ekiti (60.8%), Plateau (56.2%), Oyo (54.0%), Cross River (53.6), Benue (52.9%), Taraba (52.5%), Nasarawa (50.8%), Kwara (50.5%, Enugu (48.6%), Jigawa (48.1%), Ondo (47.6%), Niger (47.5%), Ebonyi (45.5%), Osun (39.2%) and Kebbi (37.6%).

In 2016, Nigeria launched an action plan of its own, aiming to end open defecation by 2025. The plan involves providing equitable access to water, sanitation, and hygiene services and strengthening tailored community approaches.

But with the government yet to release substantial funding for the initiative, advocates say progress is at a snail’s pace.

In November 2018, as parts of the country struggled with high levels of water-borne diseases, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari declared a state of emergency in the water, sanitation, and hygiene sector.

Nigeria needs an estimated NGN 1.11 trillion ($2.7 billion) to end open defecation by 2025. Of that, the government is expected to provide around 25%, or NGN280 billion — justified on the grounds that the country loses NGN455 billion annually to poor sanitation.

An environmentalist, Olalekan Odutola said the best way to go about achieving open defecation free society in Nigeria is through public/private partnerships.

According to him, it has worked reasonably well in Lagos and can be replicated in the rest of the country.

“Once people can make money out of a public good, they are motivated to go all the way to invest in such ventures,” he said.

Nigeria was ranked highest with open defecation. In October 2019, Nigeria became the number one open defecation nation globally, passing India.

Nigeria is among the nations in the world with the highest number of people practicing open defecation, estimated that 50 million Nigerians (or 10 million households) defecate in the open.

The practice has had a negative effect on the populace, especially children, in the areas of health and education and had contributed to the country’s failure to meet the MDG target.

The sanitation situation in the country prompted the National Council on Water Resources in 2014 to prioritize the development of a roadmap towards eliminating open defecation in the country, in line with the United Nations global campaign for ending open defecation.

This initiative tagged “Making Nigeia Open Defecation Free by 2025: A National Roadmap” was developed by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources with invaluable support from UNICEF and other key sector players across Nigeria. In 2016, the National Council on Water Resources endorsed this road map to eliminate open defecation in Nigeria.

The Roadmap provides a guide towards achieving an open defecation free country using different approaches such as capacity development; promotion of improved technology options through sanitation marketing; provision of sanitation facilities in public places; Community-Led Total Sanitation; promotional and media campaigns; creating enabling environment and coordination mechanism.

In this strategy document an indicative investment required for achieving the roadmap is estimated, showing the cost by government at all levels and the private sector, especially for construction of sanitation facilities in public places and the cost by households for construction of household sanitation facilities.

The Roadmap also provides a basis for the development of the Partnership for Expanded Water Supply and Sanitation (PEWASH) programme which aims to establish a multi-sectoral partnership between government, development partners and the private sector to support the empowerment of rural dwellers in Nigeria through the provision of adequate water supply and sanitation services.

The Federal Ministry of Water Resources will provide the enabling environment, leadership and coordination required in achieving this target by working together with communities, civil society, development agencies, private sector and government at sub-national levels.

Meanwhile, the Director, Sanitation Service Department, Lagos State Ministry of Environment, Dr. Sanuth Hassan, told ECHONEWS that the state has keyed into the Federal Government policy to make the state open defecation free.

According to him, Lagos State Government has continued to warn people against open defecation to avoid arrest and punishment liable to offence committed.

To be free from open defecation, Hassan saud Lagos State deployed three strategies among which is continuous and regular advocacy to sensitise community members and the market men and women for more public awareness.

He said the state government also engaged in infrastructure by building more public toilets and rehabilitating the moribund ones.

Hassan said the government has partnered with private sector which constructed 10 toilets last year and planning to build at least another six this year commencing next week while refurbishing the existing ones to put them in proper use for the general public to serve the growing population of the state.

He said the problem in Lagos is not the infrastructure but the growing population of people coming into the state daily, many of whom have no home.

Those, according to him, are the ones who defecate openly since majority of them could not even afford to pay for the use of public toilets.

He explained that the third strategy deployed by the state government is enforcement.

According to him, a Taskforce – Anti-Open Defecation Squad was inaugurated last year to tackle those who engage in open defecation, arrest and charge the offenders to a court.

He noted that lack of moral ethics is the major cause of open defecation, saying many of those who involve in the act are not ready to pay to use public toilets since since they live in the market, garage and even on their bikes.

He said through the government’s efforts, open defecation has reduced drastically in Lagos citing example of Ilubinrin and other areas in the Island where offenders were arrested and punished.

However, he admitted that people still defecate in some open places particularly on railways.

He said that is the focus of the taskforce now, to get rid of the perpetrators from the places.

He said it is the duty of the government to issue permit to individuals and private sectors before they can embark on the operation of  public toilet business with topmost monitoring of the existing public toilets and the operators for a healthy environment.

He disclosed that a Community Development Association (CDA) in Lagos Island also participated in the exercise by building their own public toilets, adding that the funds realised from those toilets are used to maintain it.

He called other CDAs to join the race to eradicate open defecation in the state.

Similar to that, he revealed that an organisation, JC-Decaux promised to construct 10 public toilets in Lagos State, noting that five have been built – three at Berger, two at Oyingbo – while the remaining five are to be completed soon.

To meet the target of eradicating open defecation in Lagos State, he enjoined individuals and corporate bodies to increase public toilets construction as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to the community.

He explained that the existing public toilets are not enough to serve the ever increasing population of Lagos State.

“All an investor need is to have fund and government will provide enabling environment, the space to erect public toilet which the investor will run with good maintenance.

“Afterwards, yearly operational fee will be paid to the government, either state or local based on where it is acquired.”

He rated the impact of the regulations put in place by the government to be relatively improving by the day as he advised community members to take care of health issues which, he said, begins from the immediate environment.

“Healthy environment result to healthy human being that is conscious of good hygiene,” he said.