Abuja residents urge FG to take action to prevent open defecation epidemic

The residents, who made the call in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Gwagwalada, said the solutions would prevent disease outbreak. They said there was need to construct more public toilets in designated places within the council and enforce its usage.

The residents also said that sanctions such as fines and imprisonment should be given to any household without a toilet or anyone found engaging in open defecation. Funke Ajayi, a civil servant said the issue of open defecation was worrisome which needed government’s interventions.

This, she said was necessary to checkmate the act of open defecation to avoid out-break of epidemic. Ajayi also called for the sanctioning of some residents who found it difficult to use the public toilet when provided.

“Although there are few public toilets that I have seen around, there is still need to build more and place serious sanctions on anyone found engaging in open defecation.

“There are some roads in Gwagwalada, for instance along market road, the stench of feces makes one uncomfortable when passing through the walkway.

“The Area Council needs to do something about this unpleasant practice by some residents,” she said.

Chinasa Okeke, a Nurse, said that open defecation always come with a lot of health issues such as cholera, diarrhea, typhoid, and other water-borne diseases. Okeke said this practice was harmful to human’s health especially those in the rural communities who defecate close to their source of water supply.

“Open defecation is a dangerous practice that can cause serious health challenges, most times you see people defecate close to the steams which is their source of water supply.

“This is very harmful because when it rains, the rain washes them into the same steam or river and they still go ahead to use such water for cooking and other house chores,” Okeke stated.

She, therefore, appealed to the government to provide standard public toilets with constant water supply at strategic places in order to curb the menace.

Also, Rebecca Ayangba, a business woman and a mother of four, said that she allowed her children defecate openly due to lack of water in her area.

“I have a toilet in my house but what is the use of the toilet without water to flush and clean after usage. I buy water from water vendors at the rate of ₦1,000 per truck of ten rubbers.

“I have little children that will want to defecate often and with the cost of water, I cannot stop them from defecating openly,” she said.

She said the issue of lack of water in her area had forced many household to also engage in open defecation. According to her, for Nigeria to be open defecation free, there is need for a lot of things to be put in place such as constant water especially for those in the rural communities.

NAN reports that Nigeria has set the goal of being free of open defecation by 2025. NAN also reports that UNICEF has estimated that Nigeria will need to build 3.9 million toilets annually to achieve its 2025 target.

NAN further reports that Nigeria’s potential challenges in attaining the objective of eliminating open defection by 2025 may include inadequate access to clean water for maintaining good sanitation practices.

A growing population and lack of public awareness, including challenges related to service accessibility were also major challenges, NAN reports.