How Open Defecation Can Be Stopped – Chidi Odinkalu

The former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Chidi Odinkalu has revealed what can be done to avoid open defecation.

Open defecation can cause water pollution when faces are released into drainages meant for the free flow of water.

The Government has provided roads with well-channelled drainage in Abuja but no toilet at some stopping points as anyone can defecate in a surrounding bush openly.

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Reacting to the open defecation campaign in Abuja via his Twitter page, the human right activist wondered how the act can be stopped when roads were built from Lagos through Lokoja to Kaduna, into Kano thro Wudil to Maiduguri with no convenience stop.

See his comments below.

“I see this #HelpStopOpenDefecation campaign in Abuja, all very #Nigerian, where everything is a prayer invocation with no plan. How do u stop #OpenDefecation when u build roads from Lagos through Lokoja to Kaduna, into Kano thro Wudil to Maiduguri with no convenience stop?!\

“U want to #StopOpenDefecation in Abuja, a place in which urban planning was deliberately used to banish working ppl from sight & u don’t notice that the commute from the city to Kubwa, Kuje, Gwagwalada, Zuba, Suleja etc., doesn’t have 1 toilet, yeah?!!

“U reorient ppl with rational planning. Why do u think u have toilets in aircraft cabins? #OpenDefecation in inter-regional commute in #Nigeria was diminished when proprietors of the coach companies installed toilets inside their coaches. They passed the costs to the commuters.

“But most of our leaders don’t have use for #Nigerian roads. Take a trip from any end of the country to another – Calabar to Birnin Kebbi, Lagos to Nafada, Ibadan to Uyo, Ilela to Ilorin – any roadside convenience u see is a private business, right? and u complain?

“When u go to our markets, it’s mostly the market traders associations that built the toilets in most of our markets from membership contributions. In most places, govt builds markets with no thought for how to manage essential bodily discharges

“Until recently, many of our places of worship didn’t have provisions for toilets & yet they were routinely getting planning permission (just as lots of public places in Abuja get planning permission without parking provision). Gladly, that’s changing….”

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