Menace of Open Defecation

The Federal government is taking the lead in the fight against Open Defecation as the practice is becoming alarming.


The popular saying, Health is wealth can only be achieved when all indices meant to guarantee good health by all citizenry are taken into consideration. Open defecation have been an age long practice globally, but with the advent of civilization, the practice is fast becoming a thing of the past. To fast tract Nigeria joining the league of countries tackling the practice headlong, President Muhammadu Buhari last year signed an 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. About 46 million Nigerians are said to practice open defecation, making the country number one in the world with such unhealthy practice. Nigeria have taken over from India in the number one slot. The practice has had a negative effect on the populace, and has contributed to the country’s failure to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The order signed by President Buhari on November 20, 2019 is expected to help address the menace. The order, “established in the Federal Ministry of Water Resources 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.” Nigerians cannot live on an island as open defecation is waning worldwide. In 2015, the United Nations called for an end to open defection by 2030 and that was why the federal government is toeing the same line of action. As a holistic measure towards eradicating the practice, the government should look deeper than legislation. In a city where there are no adequate housing and pipe borne water, the people have no option than to defecate in any available space. According to report, about 25 per cent of the population, mostly those living in rural communities lack access to toilet facilities.

Open defecation is the act of discharging of bowels in the open without the use of suitably designed configurations built for handling of human wastes. It simply means toileting in the fields, roadsides, forests, bushes, open bodies of water, on beaches or by train tracks, and such places. Sub-Sahara Africa and Asia are the worst victims of the practice. In those climes, you still see the old rising early in the morning to go to the fields. Some delight in them while others who live in the wretched hovels of mud and straw queue with a container in hands waiting to empty their wastes into the toilet holes. This is not only disgusting but also barbaric.

Open defecation therefore is a massive risk to the health of children as well as the dignity of man. The urban areas are not excluded as people defecate into the drainage systems that are usually meant to traffic rain water away into natural waterways. Most of them believe that water washes away their waste oblivious of the fact that when such wastes are mixed with drinking water, they result in water-borne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, trachoma and viral diseases. The major reason why people indulge in this indecent practice is poverty, the inability to build latrines or toilets. There is also the cultural norms and a long time tradition restricting the use of latrine. Closely related to the above is the cultural reason where women are restricted from using the same latrine as men and as such women are compelled to look out for open defecation.

Open defecation have become a big concern because poor sanitation contaminates water and food supplies, making it one of the most deadly issues the developing world faces today. Scientists have also reiterated the effect of open defecation which has resulted in children picking up parasites and chronic infections that impair the ability of the intestines to absorb nutrients. The solution to open defecation lies in the effort of the government and the goodwill of the individuals to provide public toilets for the areas massively in need.

It is also important to disabuse the minds of those who still believe that toilets are not supposed to be shared. Also cultural norms and beliefs must be changed over time through increase in public awareness. Equally, there should be constant programmes on television, radio and newspapers to promote personal hygiene and sanitation. Through such awareness hundreds of death, mostly child death could be avoided by using toilets and washing hands.