BY JIDE AYOBOLU
_THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU
BUHARI IS COMMITTED TO PUTTING AN END TO OPEN DEFECATION IN THE COUNTRY,
TO THIS END, __PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI SIGNED EXECUTIVE ORDER 009
ENTITLED, THE OPEN DEFECATION-FREE NIGERIA BY 2025 AND OTHER RELATED
MATTERS ORDER, 2019. 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 THE 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._
_EXECUTIVE ORDER 009 CAME INTO BEING AGAINST THE BACKGROUND THAT_
_ _
_NIGERIA IS RANKED SECOND AMONGST THE NATIONS IN THE WORLD WITH THE
HIGHEST NUMBER OF PEOPLE PRACTISING OPEN DEFECATION ESTIMATED AT OVER 46
MILLION PEOPLE – A PRACTICE WHICH 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); PRESIDENT BUHARI HAD
DESCRIBED THE STATISTICS ON OPEN DEFECATION AND ACCESS TO PIPE-BORNE
WATER SERVICE AND SANITATION AS DISTURBING, AND HAD DECLARED COMMITMENT
TO IMPLEMENT THE NATIONAL WATER SUPPLY, SANITATION AND HYGIENE (WASH)
ACTION PLAN; THE PRESIDENT HAD DECLARED A STATE OF EMERGENCY ON
NIGERIA’S WATER SUPPLY, SANITATION AND HYGIENE SECTOR, THE ACTION IS
IMPERATIVE AS IT WILL REDUCE THE HIGH PREVALENCE OF WATER-BORNE DISEASES
IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE COUNTRY WHICH HAVE CAUSED PREVENTABLE DEATHS;
NIGERIA HAS COMMITTED TO END OPEN DEFECATION THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY BY
2025 IN CONSONANCE WITH HER COMMITMENT TO THE UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS); THIS EXECUTIVE ORDER TAKES EFFECT FROM
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2019._
It is imperative to underscore the fact that, eighty-two per cent of the
1 billion people practising open defecation live in just 10 countries:
India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Niger, Nepal,
China, and Mozambique. The numbers of people practising open defecation
are still rising in 26 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, though they have
declined in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. In Nigeria, numbers
of open defecators increased from 23 million in 1990 to 39 million in
2012.
Globally, some 1.9 billion people have gained access to improved
sanitation since 1990. However, progress has not kept up with population
growth and the Millennium Development Goal target on sanitation is
unlikely to be reached by 2015 at current rates of progress. The
intergovernmental Open Working Group on the post-2015 Sustainable
Development Goals have recommended that the new goals include a target
of achieving adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and
ending open defecation by 2030.
Defecating in open fields, bushes and bodies of water is widely
practised in Nigeria. Indeed, the country is one huge field, where
people defecate without shame and without taking into consideration the
impact of their actions on the health of others. In many rural
communities, people still build houses without provisions for toilets,
or as the case may be, latrines, where waste can be emptied without
others coming into contact with it. In urban centres, such cases are
also pervasive. In many of our so-called modern cities, people use the
outdoors as bathrooms and toilets. Many walkways and nearby bushes reek
of urine and decaying faecal matter.
Yet experts have consistently warned that when large numbers of people
are defecating outdoors, it’s extremely difficult to avoid ingesting
human waste, either because it has contaminated the food or water
supplies or because it has been spread by flies and dust. According to
the joint UNICEF and the World Health Organization report previously
published on the issue, the absence of toilets remains one of the
leading causes of illness and death among children. The report said that
diarrhoea, a disease often associated with poor sanitary conditions, and
respiratory infections resulting from poor hygiene, kill about 400,000
children under the age of five annually. These deaths are largely
preventable with improvements in water, sanitation and hygiene. Nigeria
is the second-largest country after India with over 66 million of its
population defecating in the open.
The Federal Government has disclosed that over 70 per cent of Nigerians
lacked sanitation facilities, while about 40 per cent grappled with
water challenges. About 70 million people, out of a population of 171
million, lacked access to safe drinking water, and over 110 million
lacked access to improved sanitation in 2013. Open defecation rates, at
28.5 per cent pose grave public health risks. Every year, an estimated
124,000 children under the age of 5 die because of diarrhoea, mainly due
to unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene. Lack of adequate water and
sanitation are also major causes of other diseases, including
respiratory infection and under-nutrition.
Many schools in Nigeria lack safe, private toilets and hand-washing
facilities. This affects enrolment and performance, particularly in the
case of girls. The impact of water, hygiene and sanitation falls
disproportionately on women and girls, the main carriers of waters.
UNICEF has contributed to the eradication of guinea worm disease. In
2013, Nigeria was certified free of the disease. By comparison, 653,620
cases of guinea worm disease were recorded in Nigeria in 1988. The
economic impact of poor sanitation and hygiene cost the Nigerian economy
the equivalent of almost 1.3 per cent of gross domestic product.
Conflict and natural disasters exacerbate the situation. According to a
World Bank 2012 Report, about 122,000 Nigerians including 87,000
children under-five years die annually from diarrhoea, nearly 90 per
cent being directly attributed to water, sanitation and hygiene.
The term ‘open defecation’ is used in literature about water,
sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). Open defecation can cause severe health
and environmental problems. High levels of open defecation are usually
linked to high child mortality, poor nutrition, poverty, and large
disparities between rich and poor. Ending open defecation is listed as
an indicator for measuring sustainable development goals. Extreme
poverty and lack of sanitation are statistically linked. Therefore,
eliminating open defecation is thought to be an important part of the
effort to eliminate poverty. People may prefer open defecation based on
traditional cultural practices or lack of access to toilets, or both.
Even if toilets are available, behavioural change efforts may still be
needed to promote the use of toilets. The term “open defecation” became
widely used in the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector from
about 2008. This was during the publications of the Joint Monitoring
Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) and the UN International
Year of Sanitation. More awareness was generated.
Open defecation is not only a social stigma but also a factor
contributing to violence against young girls and young married women. As
per a study sponsored by Water Aid in selected slums in Lagos, a quarter
of women, defecating in open, had either first or second-hand experience
of harassment, a threat of violence or actual assault in the previous 12
months and over two-thirds felt unsafe using a shared or community
toilet in a public place. As per a World Bank Report (2012), Nigeria
loses NGN 455 billion or US$ 3 billion annually due to poor sanitation.
This works out to US$ 20 per capita/year and constitutes 1.3% of
Nigeria’s GDP. According to the same report, open defecation alone costs
Nigeria over US$ 1 billion a year. The market potential of sanitation in
the country is huge. If the 46 million people that defecate in the open
at present opt for a toilet, the demand for material and labour, on a
conservative estimate, will work out to NGN 1250 billion or over US$ 8
billion.
According to the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) (2013),
37% of Nigerian children, under 5 were stunted (height for age), 18%
wasted (weight for height) and 29% under-weight (weight for age).
According to the same study, while the percentage of stunted children
declined between 2003 and 2013, there was an increase in the percentage
of wasted and underweight children. Studies have shown that a large part
of malnutrition burden owes to the unhygienic environment in which the
children grow up. One of the major reasons for iron deficiency anaemia
(IDA) among adolescent girls and young mothers is found to be worm
infestation that is attributed to open defecation. An anaemic mother, in
all probability, will deliver a low-birth-weight baby not only
endangering the life of the newborn but also the mother. It is,
therefore, not surprising that one in every fifteen Nigerian children
dies before reaching his/her first birthday and one in every eight does
not survive to see his/her fifth birthday.
_THEREFORE, IT A WELCOME DEVELOPMENT THAT THE PRESIDENT HAS DEEMED IT
FIT TO SIGN THE EXECUTIVE ORDER AS A BENCHMARK FOR STOPPING OPEN
DEFECATE IN THE COUNTRY; BY BUILDING NEAT AND STANDARD TOILETS ALL-OVER
THE COUNTRY AND ENSURING THAT CONSTANT WATER SUPPLY IS MADE AVAILABLE,
THROUGH THE INSTRUMENTALITY OF THE CLEAN NIGERIA CAMPAIGN. UNDOUBTEDLY,
OPEN DEFECATE IN AN EYESORE OF THE NATION.___