…worried over increasing cases of open defecation
Stakeholders in Ekiti State have called on government to close down all houses and buildings without functional toilets in the state.
They also advised government to build more toilets and make the available ones functional with availability of adequate water which is the basic necessity for sanitation and hygiene.
The concerned persons spoke during a separate interview with our correspondent on this year’s World Toilet Day, with the theme, ” Accelerating Change”.
According to the United Nations, every house is expected to have at least one functional toilet but reverse is the case in some parts of Ekiti, including the state capital, as there are houses with occupants but without toilet facilities a situation the stakeholders condemned.
First to speak was a retired lecturer from the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, Dr. Tunji Owoeye who said government must act fast due to the danger associated with the unhealthy Practice.
He urged government to create more awareness and enforce the one house one toilet policy without preference.
Owoeye said:” lack of toilets in our houses, particularly in the rural communities is becoming alarming. The Ministry of Environment and Town Planning Offices should ensure that toilets are provided in various houses before their approval. Toilets should be provided in markets and other public places even if they have to be paid for.
Also, a former commissioner for Information in the State, Mr. Lanre Ogunsuyi said government must not take issues that has to do with public health with levity.
He said:”The world toilet day is the United Nations attempt to sensitise the citizens about the dangers associated with improper disposal of human waste. The function of government is to continue the sensitisation beyond the day because it’s an annual event and that’s just one day out of 365days in a year.
“It’s the function of government to ensure that in approving and monitoring human habitat, the toilets is made as important as the house itself. Government should also use environmental sanitation officers as it used to be in the past, to enforce the United Nations standard on toilet provision within the house.
“Government must also as a matter of policy, inspect houses from time to time because a lot of houses used to have toilets but became dysfunctional. It will be the duty of government to make water available to all the human habitat such that no one will have an excuse not to have functional toilets within their domain.
Two corps members posted to Ekiti State Ngozi Akubulu and Stephen Udeh who shared their experiences with Journalists confirmed that most houses in the area where they live lacked functional toilets.
According to them, the whole members of the house where they live have resorted to open defecation due to lack of toilets, thus confirming the position of the United Nations Children Fund which ranked Ekiti high among the states with prevailing cases of open defecation.
Ngozi said:” I was brought to the house at night and because I have no where to stay, I hurried paid the agent and moved in the next morning, I lost my appetite for days after they showed me the old pit toilet which had filled to brim.
” I have no choice than to join the other tenants to wake early and use the nearby bush.
Aside residential buildings, some of the public toilets built by successive governments in strategic locations within the state are not also functioning while some lack access to water.
A medical expect working with the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti before his recent relocation to UK, Dr. Bamidele Atiba affirmed that a society without functional toilets is one living in danger.
He said:” About 3.5billion globally are without safe toilet and about 419milliom people practise open defecation and this has led to over 1,000 under-5 mortality every day as a result of infection.
“Therefore, it is an issue of human rights and a global challenge that needs to be targeted and worked towards eradicating and therefore the need for us to accelerate change towards ensuring safe toilet and water for all by 2030.
“we need to summarise the acronym T.O.I.L.E.T which means
T- Talk about it, talk about safe clean water and sanitation and especially, safe toilet.
O- Open defecation needs to stop especially in underdeveloped countries of the world.
I- Involved yourself, family, everyone about this campaign and need to ensure that action is taken by everyone.
L- Let’s stop eater wastage. Water is relatively a limited resources, therefore we should stop wasting it.
E- Educate yourself and educate people around you year.
T-Tell your Government.
“It is a grave situation for any society not to have functional toilet.A good and functional toilet is an indices for Development and standard of living. Therefore, a society that lacks functional toilet makes it poor, third world.
“Also, it’s an indices for human development index and therefore, such society will have a low or poor human Development index. Such society will be a poor in socio-economic status, there will be poor hygiene, there will be increase in under-5 maternal mortality. There will be lack of access to clean water because you need clean water to have safe toilet.
Therefore, when you don’t have safe toilet, you won’t have clean water because you defecate to the open space.Also, health status of the people would be affected not to talk of effects on agriculture and environmental degradation generally.
When contacted on telephone, the Director, Environmental Health and Sanitation Department, Ekiti State Ministry of Environment, Mr Tunde Balogun said the department have started assessing the public toilets which are not functioning properly so as to recomend to government on how to fix them.
Mr. Balogun confirmed that many landlords have been prosecuted at different occasions for failure to provide toilets adding that government had issued another three months ultimatum with which landlords of any house without toilet would be prosecuted.
Balogun said:”The Government’s concern for the people is for everybody to live in a hygienic environment. Every household should have at least 1 functioning toilet; that is the mind of the government, and that is what the government wants.
“The houses without a toilet, that is where the Environmental Health officers, both state and Local Government comes in, and from time to time they have been moving around to sensitise people that it is a matter of necessity they must have a toilet in their various homes, and they have been given a few period of time to make sure that they apply the sanitary toilet in their environment.
“We give them 3 months, and for houses that did not comply, we will charge them to Court. So that is the sanction, because any house without toilet we give them notice, we have been charging them to Court on a routine bases.
“We have some public toilet made by government across the State some are by the interventions maybe from World Bank and then other Establishments; I can not state precisely the number of public toilets we have some are functional some are not functional.
“Our plan now is to get the number of toilets functioning and recommend to the government so that those not functioning will definitely be worked on.