The Open Defecation Free (ODF) target falls within the sixth Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nation to which Nigeria had pledged commitment.
However, Nigeria is among the African countries where open defecation is still rampant.
In 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari signed an Executive Order to end open defecation in Nigeria by 2025, in line with the United Nations global campaign and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).
The Federal Ministry of Water Resources, with support from the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and other partners, developed a national roadmap to guide and coordinate the efforts of various stakeholders, such as states and local government authorities, civil society organisations, development agencies and the private sectors.
The roadmap outlines different strategies and interventions, which include capacity development for sanitation actors at all levels, promotion of imported technology options through sanitation marketing, provision of sanitation facilities in public places and schools, markets, and health centres, community-led total sanitation activities, the creation of enabling environment and coordination mechanism, such as the Partnership for Expanded Water Supply and Sanitation (PEWASH), and promotional and media campaigns, such as the Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet campaign, to raise awareness and demand for sanitation among the teeming population across the country.
However, despite these efforts, open defecation free activities towards achieving the 2025 target has been slow and uneven.
The country faces many challenges in eliminating open defecation, such as low awareness, cultural norms, inadequate sanitation facilities and limited funding.
Most states are lagging behind in the ‘war’ against open defecation in the country because of lack of commitment on the part of the authorities and corruption in some cases.
With less than a year target set for Nigeria since 2019, latest reports on open defecation has it that only 12 out of Nigeria’s 774 local government areas in the country have been declared open defecation free, up from 18 in 2019. The states with the highest rates of open defecation are: Kwara, Plateau, and Ebonyi.
Those with the lowest rate are Abia, Zamfara and Akwa-Ibom State. There is a huge gap between the urban and rural areas, as well as between the rich and the poor, in terms of access to sanitation services.
Nigeria target 2025 to become an open defecation free country but the NatureNews investigations conducted on open defecation in the country revealed that in most communities across the country people are still engaging in open defecation from Lagos to Sokoto, Benin to Katsina, Enugu to Maiduguri, Ilorin to Port Harcourt, and many other small towns and cities, some Nigerians are still defecating in the open.
Unfortunately, majority of the people who defecate in the open in Nigeria do not regard their act as a hazard that can cause health problems for them and other people in their neighbourhood.
In addition, there are too many houses built without toilets across the country forcing occupants of such buildings to defecate in the open or defecate in potties only to throw their faeces in drainages. Many who reside nearby a river are known for defecating in such river.
The situation was so bad that the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) reported in 2021 , that 46 million Nigerians still practices open defecation, rating it at 23% of the population. As a result of this, the UN agency ranks Nigeria second in the world where open defecation is rampant.
Though a similar report by the World of Statistics, same year, indicated that Nigeria was ranked ninth in the world and with 18%, following countries like Niger Republic, Chad, South Sudan, Benin Republic, Togo, et cetera.
The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Professor Joseph Utsav, recently frowned at the slow nature of tackling open defecation by states across the country.
He said the Federal Government have been making significant commitment to align with Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), which focuses on improving Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services by 2030.
It was observed that this ‘commitment’ claimed by the minister is yet to be translated to concrete actions and visible result, with more political will, necessary funding, effective coordination and, above all, accountability.
Today, barely ten months to 2025 targeted period to becoming open defecation free country, Nigeria is facing a daunting challenge to seeing the target become a reality. The country has only achieved an abysmal 15.1% of the open defecation free target set for next year.
Ending open defecation in Nigeria is beyond moral obligation but a strategic investment for the future of the country. It will help to reduce the burden of diseases, improve the quality of education, enhance the dignity and safety of the girls and women, boost the economy, and protect the environment.
Open defecation free society will also help to achieve other SGD’s , such as ending poverty, reducing inequality, and ensuring peace and justice.
Nigeria has the potential and the opportunity to end open defecation across the country come 2025, only it requires moving away from our continuous dancing on the same spot and engage in more action and urgency from all stakeholders.
In 2021, recall that then Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo’s comment on open defecation free country. He said, ” If we work conscientiously, we can really make our country open defecation free by 2025.”
Osinbajo has hit the nail on the head. It is high time we all align our efforts at all levels and commits ourselves to using all of our sphere of influence at the community level, local government, state and federal level , in advancing the objective of the campaign against open defecation. The time to act is now.