By Edoamaowo Udeme
A well built school where Open Defecation greeted the reporter at the entrance of the main gate.
Cold chills will welcome a visitor when they realize that the river the Efut Akai Eta Mbutu Villagers defecate in is the same which they drink and fish in.
Open Defecation is a very common sight in and around the riverine area. Worst still, most residents who cannot get to the river to defecate in, do so in very visible places.
For instance, Government Secondary School Idang, in Efut Akai Eta Mbutu Village established in 1991, appears very neat and tidy from afar, but a walk into the school, the first thing that was spotted just immediately after the entrance was an Open Defecation.
A well built school with locked toilets (because the school is on vacation) leaves children and young adults loitering and playing about in the fields. That explains why it is so easy to defecate anywhere because, despite the fact that there is a gate, it was unlocked.
Sadly, at the right end of the school premises, the stench emanating from the little shrubs nearby could cause a puke. Drawing closer, It revealed a residential area, No 75 Idang Street, an over 20-room apartment, occupied by not less than 4 persons in each room, without a toilet.
Tenants scampered to their rooms as soon as they spotted the reporter, (still wondering why) It took a little persuasion before they returned to respond. With the stench just a stone’s throw from them, one of the tenants was cooking, the other was roasting fish for sale (Obviously fish from the river that the villagers defecate into).
Heartbreakingly, another was breastfeeding her baby just very close to where the feaces can be seen with flies perching everywhere. One wonders what the baby was actually sucking.
The reporter later learnt from one of the tenants (name withheld) that the house has been without toilet for almost a year. While the Landlord Emma Ekpo, blames it on none payment of rent by tenants.
“The tenants have refused to pay my rent and I can’t use my money to build toilets for them, I am waiting to be arrested by the sanitary inspectors so I can have them arrested too” he said.
On if he has a separate toilet; he says he, his wife and two kids use the same process, Open Defecation as he says nothing will happen to his children, “They have lived like that for a long time”, he adds.
“I sometimes beg them (Tenants) for at least 100 naira per week but they refuse to pay”. Emma added.
Emma said he is not the only landlord as his late father divided the apartments between him and his sister. The sister wasn’t available for the report.
A half finished soak away can be seen very close to the kitchen area but Emma said he is waiting for tenants to pay for its completion..
The United Nations Children’s Fund(UNICEF), Effort at ending Open Defecation while considering the health impact on children, prompted an advocacy visit to Efut Akai Eta Mbutu Community.
According to report by (UNICEF), of 774 Local Governments in Nigeria, Only 13 are Open Defecation free and BY 1ST October 2019, Nigeria will overtake India to become the world’s Open Defecation Country.
UNICEF report also has it that 47 million Nigerians defecate in the open while 33 million use unimproved toilets.
Drissa Yeo, UNICEF (WASH) Specialist in 2018 had pointed out that “1 gram of faeces has 10 million viruses,1 million bacteria and 1000 parasites”
”So far, of the 774 Local Governments in Nigeria, Only 13 are Open Defecation Free. Cross Rivers State tops the lists with 6 Bauchi has 4, Jigawa 4 and Benue 1 Local Governments that are Open Defecation Free”.
With the UNICEF in collaboration with The Child Rights Information Bureau (CRIB) of the Federal Ministry of lnformation & Culture theme, Clean Nigeria: Use Toilet Campaign, and with Cross River State’s record so far, are there chances of ending Open Defecation in Efut Akai Eta Mbutu Community?
