Video - Nigeria plans to end open defecation by 2025

It's estimated that close to 50 million Nigerians have no access to toilet facilities and defecate in the open. And UNICEF estimates that each year, more than 100-thousand children under the age of five die due to diarrhea. 90 per cent of the deaths are directly attributed to unsafe water and sanitation. The Nigerian government says it plans to end open defecation by 2025 but that is not seeming likely.

Related stories: Nigeria failing to end open defecation

Nigeria second in the world in open defecation

Nigeria failing to end open defecation

 Attention to the issue of open defecation has often focused on India, which is home to by far the largest population of people who practice it. In October 2014, the country embarked on an ambitious five-year mission to eliminate open defecation nationwide, building millions of toilets and aiming to change the habits of hundreds of millions of its citizens.

But as India approaches its target deadline for eliminating the practice, attention is turning to the country next in line — Nigeria.

One in four Nigerians — about 47 million people — practice open defecation, according to the World Health Organization and UNICEF’s joint monitoring report, particularly in the north of the country where there is less access to good toilets. Fewer than half of households in Nigeria have their own toilet.

The practice brings with it significant health risks, linked to deaths from diarrhoea, cholera, and typhoid. It is also a risk factor for violence against women and girls who, for example, may need to leave home in the dark to find somewhere to defecate.

In 2016, Nigeria launched an action plan of its own, aiming to end open defecation by 2025. The plan involves providing equitable access to water, sanitation, and hygiene services and strengthening tailored community approaches to total sanitation.

But with the government yet to release funding for the initiative, advocates say progress is happening at a snail’s pace. In November 2018, as parts of the country struggled with high levels of water-borne diseases, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari declared a state of emergency in the water, sanitation, and hygiene sector.

In the meantime, NGOs are working where they can to get the ball rolling on ending open defecation in Nigeria.

Financing woes

Nigeria needs an estimated 959 billion Nigerian naira ($2.7 billion) to end open defecation by 2025. Of that, the government is expected to provide around 25%, or NGN234 billion — justified on the grounds that the country loses NGN455 billion annually to poor sanitation.

The other 75% of the cost will be incurred by households. “The majority of the costs to households will be spent on constructing toilets for those that don’t have [them], while funds from the government will be spent on public projects including ensuring access to toilet facilities at public places,” explained Zaid Jurji, head of WASH at UNICEF Nigeria.

With so much money expected to be pumped into the challenge, the government is encouraging the emergence of a toilet business ecosystem, which includes innovative toilet designers, financiers to provide loans and other financial tools to households, community organizations, and more.

“Several toilet financing options are available to help households,” explained Jurji, ranging from local bartering arrangements — one woman traded a goat for a pour flush toilet, for example — to government-provided revolving loans for communities.

But advocates say a wide gap exists between ambition and action. To meet the 2025 target, Nigeria needs to build 2 million toilets every year from 2019 to 2025. Bioye Ogunjobi, a WASH specialist for UNICEF, said the country is currently delivering about 100,000 toilets annually.

“The current effort is like a drop in the ocean,” Ogunjobi said.

Just like India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Buhari has directed government at all levels to redouble its efforts.

In a speech at the time of the emergency declaration in November, he said the 2030 global goals on WASH “cannot be achieved if we continue with ‘a business as usual’ approach. Henceforth, federal government support to state governments will be based on their commitment to implement the National WASH Action Plan in their respective states and to end open defecation by 2025.”[a]

But nine months later, advocates say little has changed — not least because the federal government is yet to release its share of funding for the initiative. Some state governments have also not yet provided funding, which officials attributed to the country’s recent elections, meaning new budgets will not be passed until next year.

Nonetheless, Chizoma Opara, acting coordinator of “Clean Nigeria” — the government’s behavior change campaign on ending open defecation, which is supported by UNICEF, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank, among others — told Devex the government is fully committed to the project.

She said she and other stakeholders had visited India to study their strategies and were aiming to localize and replicate them in Nigeria, describing the campaign as having the potential to be a “transformational” social movement.

Communities take charge

As they wait for the full roll-out of the initiative, UNICEF and its partners are already working with some states, local governments, and interest groups to make what progress they can.

So far, 11 of Nigeria’s 774 local government areas have been certified as free from open defecation — a process that involves the establishment of a local committee and random checks by government officials.

But both WASH advocates and government officials acknowledged that more needs to be happening if the country is to have a chance of meeting its 2025 target.

Development commentator Kevwe Oghide said she would like to see laws prohibiting open defecation — which has already happened in some states — and urged companies to take on sanitation in their corporate social responsibility work.

“[We need] mobile toilets, [to] repair broken facilities, [better] water supply,” she said. But she added: “It is not enough to provide clean and safe toilets … There is also a need to change behaviors as a means to bridge the gap between building latrines and their proper use.”

Jurji told Devex that successful efforts are happening in some areas — from legislation to toilet construction to the participation of state authorities. “Everyone is working, but this needs to be happening across the country to achieve desired results,” he said.

By Paul Adepoju

Related stories: Nigeria second in the world in open defecation
 

Nigeria second in the world in open defecation

Nigeria has been ranked second among countries practicing open defecation globally, says the United Nations Children Fund.

Dr Geoffrey Njoku, Communication Specialist, UNICEF made this known at a Two-Day Media Dialogue in Calabar State on Wednesday.

The theme of the dialogue “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet” is aimed at creating awareness to end the habit by 2025.

According to him, findings from the 2018 Water sanitation and Hygiene National Outcome Routine Mapping survey reveals that 24 per cent of the population, about 47 million people, practise open defecation.

“This campaign is trying to see what we can do not to be in the number one category of open category.

“There is need to create awareness about Clean Nigeria, Use the Toilet campaign and mobilise resources to sustain the national movement.”

Njoku, however, called for behavioural change and policy reform through community dialogue, advocacy and engagement with policymakers.

He added that it was also important to drive cross-sector collaborations, especially with the private sector to improve investment in the sanitation sector.

Meanwhile, the Chief of Field Office, UNICEF, Enugu, Mr Ibrahim Conteh said that by 2030, Nigeria should be able to achieve adequate sanitation hygiene while also paying adequate attention to the needs of women and girls.

Conteh said stakeholders must, however, join forces towards improving adequate sanitation facilities in the country.

” The Federal Government has declared an emergency on the sector in 2018 and have taken steps to achieve this.

” This partnership will yield tremendous result in achieving this goal.”

News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Nigeria government in 2018 launched a national campaign to jump-start the country toward becoming Open Defecation Free.

Nigeria is however second to India in open defecation, a situation that needed urgent attention to reverse.

PUNCH

Related stories: Nigerian government plans to end open defecation in Nigeria by 2025

Highest rate of Nigerians defecating in public is in Ekiti State

25% of Nigerians excrete openly according to unicef

The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, says 25 per cent or 46 million Nigerians defecate openly, while 33 million of these people are in the rural areas

Nawshad Ahmed, Programme and Planning Specialist, UNICEF, Abuja, said this in Minna on Tuesday during the 2017 Niger State UNICEF mid-year review.

He noted that open defecation, which was higher in the northern part of the country than the southern part, was present across Nigeria.

Mr. Ahmed said that open defecation was less in urban areas due to access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities in urban areas.

He also said that one out of every three Nigerians did not have access to safe drinking water, adding that the rate surpassed 80 per cent in some southern states and less than 35 per cent in some northern states.

On open defecation in Niger, Mr. Ahmed said that there was a need to review the state's WASH policy for presentation to the State Executive Council for approval.

He said that there was inadequate government support for the implementation of the state's Open Defecation-Free Road Map to end open defecation by 2025.

The specialist noted that none of the 25 local government areas of the state had tangible plans to end open defecation, while there were no WASH departments in the local government councils.

He also said that none of the local government councils had existing budget for WASH facilities.

He added that the pace of expansion of safe water facilities was lower than the rate of increase in population.

On education, Mr. Ahmed said that over 20 per cent of world's out-of-school children -- 10 million children -- were in Nigeria.

"Children from the richest quintile are three times likely to attend school than children from the poorest families.

"There is no gender disparity in the school attendance for children in the richest, fourth, or middle wealth quintile; gender gap appears in the second quintile and is wider among poorest children," he said.

He, however, stressed that mother's education was important to improving the standard of education of children.

Usman Musa, Permanent Secretary, Niger Ministry of Planning, disclosed that the 2017 UNICEF work plan was already in progress.

He said the work plan would soon be signed by Gov. Abubakar Bello.

Mr. Musa advised participants to participate actively in the plan whenever it became operational so as to achieve the objectives of the review.

Premium Times