Open defecation is a No-no, by Francis Ewherido

I saw people defecating openly when I came to Lagos in the 80s. The stretch when approaching Carter Bridge from Osborne, Ikoyi, was most notorious. I remember when I was working in Victoria Island from 1990-1996, it was my regular route home. Each time I was passing, I would look around whether the occupants of the other vehicles were foreigners.

Of course, some were. It was a real shame of a city and it remains so till date. The stretch was also notorious for traffic gridlocks caused by impatient motorists who formed multiple lanes to get into the two lanes that connect traffic to Carter Bridge. I heard (I was not there o!) of a woman who was caught up in the traffic. She saw a guy on the median defecating. But what attracted her was the guy’s monster penis dangling menacingly and “invitingly” at her. But for the fact that she was chauffeur-driven, she would have come down to give the guy her contact!

I have discussed this topic twice or three times on this column. It is something I find nauseating and unacceptable, but let’s be honest. Open defecation was a way of life for many people, especially those who grew up in the villages because they had no proper toilet facilities. My gut feeling tells me that the practice still subsists in villages. I did not grow up in the village, so it is something I am not used to, but in one of the two secondary schools I attended, we used to go to the bush to defecate for the two reasons: One, some students innocently or deliberately defecated on the toilet floor to antagonise the students who washed the toilets. So, using the toilet was a put-off. Two, for people like me who were not used to open defecation in the bush, it was a new experience, a freedom and liberation we found refreshing.

But those were the days of ignorance? Maybe or maybe not. We were taught even in primary school that open defecation can cause air- and water-borne diseases like cholera, dysentery, typhoid, intestinal worms, amongst others. Maybe we used the knowledge to enable us pass our exams, not to be applied in our daily lives. But this is 2024. Whether in the city or villages, there should be no place for such practices anymore. 

For some time now, I have been traumatised by open defecation on the median of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, especially the Lagos and Ogun State portions. I wondered why both governments allowed this obnoxious practice to fester. I was therefore very relieved when I read that the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency and the Ogun State Environmental Protection Agency held a public sensitisation programme aimed at ending open defecation along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. I welcome it wholeheartedly. The sensitisation and enforcement should not be one-off. They must be unrelenting and sustained. They also need to come up with measures to carry out a 24-hour surveillance. Putting CCTV on the stretch is an option to be considered. If not, the gains will be shortlived.  

Defecating on the median has gone on for too long and become a habit. Stopping it is going to be difficult. The signs are already there. I read a report of someone defecating on the median. He was one of about 40 people arrested. He resisted arrest and even inflicted injuries on the Lagos State Government official before he was overpowered. This is the danger of allowing wrongdoings to fester. It is going to take a while to rid Lagos of open defecation. We have it in Oshodi, Lagos-Badagry Expressway and other spots.

Some people have suggested building public toilets as a way out. I totally support it, but is it going to be free service or users have to pay? Many people would rather defecate openly than spend a kobo to use public toilets. The behaviour is entrenched and it is going to be a long walk. But it is a task that must be accomplished. Apart from Mumbai and Chennai in India, and it is not brazen and widespread like Lagos, I have not seen open defecation in any mega city outside Africa. Some people blame overcrowding and homelessness for open defecation in Lagos. I beg to disagree. Open defecation is just a bad habit that has refused to go. There is homelessness in New York, London and other major cities in Europe and America, but no one dares to brazenly defecate openly because the culprit can go to jail or pay a heavy fine. 

I have had the need to use toilets a few times while in transit. I simply look for a bank, eatery or other corporate offices and I have never been denied. Even petrol stations oblige me. It is just that I have never seen a well-maintained toilet in a petrol station. That includes these new and beautiful petrol stations. I guess that their problem is that they do no have cleaners 24/7. You cannot keep a public toilet clean unless you have permanent cleaners on hand.

Let me wrap up with open defecation’s younger brother, indiscriminate urinating. It is another problem we need to tackle. It is not done in the Western world and if you want to be like them in environmental cleanliness, you have to pay attention to these little details. Long ago, I saw a young man about to urinate in the drain in front of my house. I told him he couldn’t urinate there. He moved to another spot; I repeated what I told him earlier. In exasperation, he said, “na gutter I want piss put. I nor want shit.” He moved to my neighbour’s. At that point, I knew we were on different wavelengths and decided not push further. 

Another time, one woman stood where I wanted to park. I was wondering if she was blind. Like a movie scene, she pulled down her trousers, bared her massive bum and squatted by the open drain. The next thing I heard was “shruuuu” (she was urinating). It is a very busy road! 

I avoid indiscriminate urinating by using the toilet before leaving the house and using the toilet before departing from wherever I go to. If I get caught up in a “wicked” traffic, I look for banks, eateries, insurance companies, other corporate organisations offices and petrol stations. I have never been denied use of their toilet facilities. The only time I urinate indiscriminately are long-distance travels like Delta to Lagos, if we did not stop at eateries, I ease myself at stops at police checkpoints. But that too is not good. I have travelled long distances abroad. There were stopover places where we used the toilet facilities.

Some people reading this might be feeling that I live in the moon. There’s hunger in the land, fuel scarcity, insecurity, kidnapping and many other major problems. How can indiscriminate urinating be an issue? One of my beliefs in life is that he who is not faithful in little things cannot be faithful in bigger things.  I believe that ignoring little things is one of the reasons why we are where we are today in Nigeria.

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