Open Defecation, Causes, Consequences and Intervention in Nigeria

Fundamental components of the Sustainable Development Goals are good health and clean water. Open defecation makes this difficult. Defecating in public zones like fields, woods, coastlines, open aquatic bodies, or even in open spaces with solid garbage like polythene bags, is known as open defecation. It is global, with 12% of the world’s population, mostly impoverished countries of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, practicing it. In Nigeria, defecating in public is rampant in rural areas than in urban regions. Motivation, consequences of open defecation, and the approaches of the government to curtail it were discussed. Poverty, restricted availability of sanitary facilities, lack of awareness and education, socio-cultural beliefs, nomadic and itinerant life, emergencies, among others, are connected to open defecation in Nigeria. Furthermore, household proportion, profession, earnings, traditional standards, and possession of a restroom are also put forward as factors that affect the dispositions of Nigerians towards open defecation. Open defecation constitutes a significant public health risk with environmental, health, and social effects. Therefore, the Nigerian government has periodically created programs and policies to eradicate public defecation and to ensure this, several policies and guidelines were implemented. Except for the “Making Nigeria Open-Defecation Free by 2025” policy, which outlines the anticipated plans to outlaw open defecation in Nigeria, there was little to no structure in place to abolish open defecation in the country. It was recommended, among other things, that there should be continuous national public awareness campaigns, more restrooms should be constructed in public areas, water supply should be given top priority throughout Nigeria, local,  inventive, and reasonably priced technologies should be encouraged to build better toilet systems, cultural barriers should be removed to allow for improved sanitation facilities, and state and federal legislatures should pass laws prohibiting public defecation.