Rotimi Ige and Ruth Olurounbi write on the poor sanitation situation in many National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camps which forces corps members to defecate in the open.
DEFECATING in the open is the way of life in some parts of the world, especially the developing ones. In spite of the UNICEF's Country Representative and Chief Ambassador, Dr Suomi Sakai's worry over the high rate of open defecation practice in Nigeria, some people are not particularly bothered that about 1.7 million tonnes of faeces are being deposited into the environment annually. The faeces, some people say, fertilise the soil on which they grow their crops, while others blame their action on the inactions of the federal government.
Currently, 2.5 billion people on earth lack improved sanitation. A projection by the World Health Organisation (WHO), however, assured of a slight decrease by 2015, leaving only 2.4 billion without improved sanitation. In the meantime, 1.1 billion people around the world practice open defecation, just as they go without access to sanitary toilet and sewage facilities. Of the 2.6 billion people still without toilets, an estimated 980 million are children, according to the United Nations. In India, 626 million people practice open defecation, while 692 million people in South Asia defecate openly. Indonesia has a total of 63 million who practise open defecation. Pakistan comes close second with 40 million, while Ethiopia has 38 million people who live without toilets.
In Africa, nearly 540 million people, more than 60 per cent of the continent's population, currently do not have access to safe sanitation, defined as an improved latrine or septic tank, according to African Development Bank Group (ADBG). A WaterAid report last year recorded an estimate of five million Ghanaians practising open defecation, just as a study by the Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) of the World Bank, shows that Ghana spends about $80 million to address the problem of open defecation, and over 200 million dollars because of premature death caused by poor water, sanitation and hygiene every year. In Kenya, 21 million people use unsanitary or shared latrines, while 5.6 million have no latrine at all and defecate in the open, according to WSP. The UNICEF and World Health Organisation revealed that estimated 34 million Nigerians do not have toilet and practice open defecation.
“Today, a third of Africans still practice open defecation, and half rely on traditional latrines, the health effects of which are largely unknown,” the ADGB said. A recent study carried out by the Water and Sanitation Programme revealed that Nigeria loses $1billion (N155 billion) a year to defecation. In a report released to mark this year's World Toilets Day, Nigeria is among the top five countries in the world with largest number of people defecating in the open.
Although the rural areas of Nigeria have been adjudged the common ground for open defecation, investigations by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that National Youth Service Corps members may have contributed to the 34 million people who openly defecate in the urban areas. The corps members, who expressed their frustration, as well as their anguish over the deplorable states on lavatory systems on their camps, took an exception to being voluntary culprits in the UNICEF and WHO's revelation.
“There is nowhere to pee without at least ten men seeing you. There are no toilets in this camp. There is nowhere to pooh without everybody having a look. I've gone there once since I've been here and I had to sneak out of camp to a field across the road and sit on a bucket I'd spread a large nylon bag over. Sitting there under the stars, wondering what I was doing with my life in this God forsaken camp, my reverie was broken by a soldier flashing his torch on my naked bum and demanding to know what I was doing there. At this point, I didn't even give a shit anymore (no pun intended) so I confessed what I was doing and he had no choice but to tell me to carry on,” a blogger, who happened to be a corps member titled his rants on Sugarbelly as Things No one Tells You About NYSC Camp. The blogger was lamenting the deplorable state of the camp.
Enugu camp Courtesy: Premiumhost.comSome corps members of the 2012 Batch C at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Kubwa, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were reported to have decried the poor state of the camp facilities, while they urged the FCT authority to provide more facilities, especially toilets to the thousands of corps members posted to the territory. It was reported that some corps members have resorted to using the nearby bush as toilets.
Reports had it that the FCT NYSC Coordinator, Mr Frank Ekpunobi, had made several appeals for the rehabilitation of the camp, saying the camp required urgent attention to reduce the stress corps members cope with, which included poor toilets and bathrooms, among others. A corps member, Faith Odinaka, was quoted by News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) to have said that the toilets at the camp apart from being dirty, were unkempt, just as the facilities are also over stretched as the number of the corps members are always on the increase.
“I was expecting to see a state of the art camp, since it is in the FCT but I was shocked to find that apart from the toilets, the road network, the kitchen and dining hall are in terrible shape,'' she said.
The scenario is a little bit different in Kaduna State Orientation Camp. Corps members deployed to the state were said to have been sleeping in the toilet, due to inadequate housing systems at the camp. This development has led to a shortage of lavatory, leading some female corps member to defecate in polythene bags in their hostels.
At Oyo State NYSC temporary orientation camp, Iseyin, Joan, a corps member, recounted her experience to the Nigerian Tribune. “As I walked into the hostel, after we had registered and mingled with other corpers, I saw a group of ladies having their bath outside. After a vigorous day at the exercise grounds, we needed to use the bathroom. I got to the bathroom but we were made to use the toilet! I was dazed, there was only one toilet and it was filled to the brim. The bathroom was also filled with faeces! Earlier, Chinedu Okoro, a senior at the University of Ibadan, had advised that I made sure I got about two or three packs of black nylon bags as I went to shop for camp. I ignored that part of the conversation and murmured to myself 'what do I need nylon bags for?' As if he knew I wouldn't take him seriously, he added, you would need the nylon bags for “shot put.” I innocently said, “I don't like sports, so what do I need shot put for?” He laughed and said, “my dear, there are no toilets at the camp o!” I ignored him and continued my shopping.
Kubwa camp, Abuja“Back to my experience, I went back into my room, hoping for an alternative. I went to one of the officials in the female hostel and asked other options for the toilet and she pointed at the same place we had gone to earlier in the day. As I made for the place, a fellow corps member in a towel and a house coat, emerged, throwing a black nylon over the fence. Immediately, all that Chinedu Okoro, my senior from the university told me began to make sense. It was an uncomfortable and terrible experience. It was even pitiable because the NYSC programme had been on for years without any upgrade or improvement of the facilities,” she reflected.
Another corps member, who got an orientation from Sagamu NYSC camp, Ogun State, said he never used the camp's toilet because the floor was always littered with faeces. Prince Charming said “I never used the toilet at the camp. The only thing that was essential commodity to me then was nylon. I so much appreciated nylon more than anything. You know now, shot put,” he recounted.
In Edo, the lavatory situation, according to the corps members at the camp, was too deteriorated for use. A corps member, who was responding on the state of the Okada Orientation camp on Nairaland, said, “I just can't wait to get out of this so called 'Okada Camp'. No toilet facilities not to mention bathrooms. The smell is so horrid. Presently I'm down with cough, headache and fever and the camp clinic.... Just can't wait to get out of this God-forsaken place.”
The situation is not different at the Kogi State NYSC permanent orientation camp, Asaya, Kabba, Kogi State, as corps members complained of the unhygienic states of the toilets.
Many corps members admitted that they would rather go into the bushes to defecate than make use of any of the toilets. “I never visited the toilet throughout my stay there, as the sight around the blocks was appalling. The odour that oozed from the blocks was unbearable and only few corps members dared to move closer to the place, most of who were boys.
“Although there was almost a constant supply of water, the conditions of the place was really bad, no one cleaned it and it was often left unkempt, coupled with the fact that the number of toilets made available was inadequate compared to the number of corps members at the camp,” Bamitale, a recent ex-corps member who served in Kogi State, said.
At the Abia State permanent orientation camp, Umuna, Bende Local Government Area of the state, Deolu, a corps member, observed that, “a rather proportional issue is what should be tackled with three hostels to one block of almost a hundred and fifty corps members. Like everything designed for public use in this part of the world, the conditions of most of the toilet facilities at the orientation camps are bad. The water closets, where available, are not suitable for use due to the terrible odour that emits from there, majorly because water is never in supply. Corps members prefer throwing 'shot-puts' and digging up the ground to entering any of the diseases-infected toilets provided.”
Another corps member who wanted his identity protected, told the Nigerian Tribune in a chat that going to use a toilet in town meant parting with N50 as there was no toilet at the camp's premises. “If you want to excrete, you're going to have to pay N50 or else you may have to 'shot put,'” he said.
Farida, who posted her three-week camp experience on a social network, Giist.com, said, “We had females urinating and defecating in gutters that were purposely built there to serve as drainage. Such would have been excusable had there not been designated bathrooms and toilets. Everyone is well aware of the fact that the facilities aren't well kept, but as women and as human beings the way we think and act are what separate us from animals. It was very hard for me to comprehend how and why a person, a woman nonetheless, could stand up to urinate in a place that is supposed to be a common area and also used as daily circulation. Of course I complained, and it definitely fell on deaf ears, my roommates and myself never gave up though, someone even had the nerve to defecate in front of our door one morning."
Okechukwu, who is currently serving in Kogi State, observed that the failure of the authorities to provide standard toilet facilities at orientation camps, “is an attempt either to intentionally or inadvertently de-humanise youth corps members. Subjecting graduates to going into the bush before they can excrete is a de-humanising act. Nigeria is supposed to be a developing country, but how can we claim to be developing when the cream of our future leaders are forced to live like stone age men and women. Come to think of it, the cause of the poor toilet facilities at the camps is non-availability of water. How much does it cost to sink a borehole at each of the camps? By subjecting graduates to this kind of treatment, the government is sending a message to them that it does not care about the youth corps members. This is most unfortunate.”
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