The countdown to 2025 when Nigeria is expected to end open defecation has begun.
The country’s tourism potential and beauty continue to decline due to the menace of open defecation.
Nigeria ranks No. 1 globally among countries with the highest number of people defecating in the open space.
In 2018, former President Muhammadu Buhari declared a State of Emergency in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Sector, and in November 2019, Nigeria flagged off the Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign.
The Campaign was backed by Executive Order 9, towards making Nigeria Open Defecation Free by 2025.
In July 2023, the Nigerian Government declared substantial progress in its mission to eliminate open defecation nationwide. They reported that a total of 104 Local Government Areas (LGAs) across various states had successfully achieved open defecation-free status.
Ideally, open defecation ought not to be an issue in Nigeria in 21st century. Sadly, contrary to expectation, it is.
While open defecation is mostly found amongst the homeless and poor, wealthy travellers sometimes indulge in the act when they fall victims of unexpected stomach upset while on the journey.
Although the Clean Nigeria Campaign is working assiduously to improve the number of Open Defecation Free Local Governments Areas in the country, statistics have shown that Nigeria needs to build not less than 3.9 million toilets annually to meet the 2025 target of open defecation.
The World Bank estimates that Nigeria’s open defecation challenges cost the country a whopping $3 billion annually due to poor sanitation.
An Abuja-based sociologist, Kunle Ajayi, who spoke to NIGERIACRIME tied the spike in the cases of open defecation to the inadequacy of public toilets in the country.
With its massive population and inadequate infrastructure, Lagos is one of the most impacted cities in the country.
The implication of this, according to the Lagos State Director of Sanitation, Dr Hassan Sanuth, is that the practice can lead to different disease outbreak.
In line with the Federal Government’s pledge to end open defecation in 2023, Dr Sanuth rolled out the four-cardinal plan of Lagos State to end the menace.
He stated that the Lagos State Government will build adequate toilets for the public and also partner private sectors.
Dr Sanuth disclosed that an anti-open defecation squad has been formed to tackle the menace in the state.
Despite the government’s effort to curb open defecation, which includes the arrest and conviction of culprits, the menace keeps taking a monstrous shape.