Residents want enforcement of use of public toilets to promote good health, sanitation

ONE of the traits some Lagosians had been associated with was their penchant to ease themselves almost anywhere.

Be it in gutters, on refuse heaps, behind bus shelters even beside parked cars, some Lagosians were known not to have bothered where they eased themselves, sometimes in the full glare of passers-by.

It was in an attempt to stop what most agreed was a dirty habit that the Lagos State government started to build the now familiar public toilets now located at nearly all major bus stops and terminals, markets and along busy pedestrian routes.

Though conveniently located in most parts of the mega-city, it is doubtful if the presence of these squat, burnt-brick and blue long-span roofed structures have been able to curb the dirty habits Lagosians have for so long exhibited.

According to Peter Anolue, a clearing agent:” Many Lagosians, especially the bus drivers and conductors, artisans and others in that cadre still do not consider it necessary to use the public toilets.

“That is rather unfortunate because the charge is very affordable at 50kobo.

“They would rather squat in gutters or stoop behind bus stop shelters or abandoned vehicles to ease themselves than use the public toilets.”

A bus conductor on the Mile Two- Oshodi-Palm Groove-Orile route, Kayode told The Guardian, whenever he felt like urinating, he look for an enclosed place in the park to do so.

“Me, I cannot pay to use the toilet”

He said though officials of the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) Brigade were on the lookout to arrest people easing themselves in open places, “I am always careful and they cannot catch me.”

One place where indiscriminate defecating and urinating has gone on without let, is the Alaba Market on the Mile Two-Orile Road, where traders, at the popular second- hand clothes markets, lament the nauseating smell emanating from faeces that litter the roadside.

When The Guardian spoke to the traders over the weekend, some of them, close to tears, said their sales had dropped due to the dirty, smelly environment.

One of the traders, Mrs. Ijego Ibe said she had begun to dread coming to the market “because I know this place will be littered with human waste

“The pavement has been turned into a public toilet by so called area boys who do not have any sense of decency.

“When we leave the market in the evening, the place is always clean but by the next morning, it would be stinking and so unsightly that customers keep away.”

Simply identified himself as Omobaba, he said he urinated wherever he was pressed, because the closest public toilet was at Mile-two.

A concerned Lagosian and teacher, Mr. Gaji Adeola  told The Guardian poor personal hygiene was still common among people in many parts of the metropolis, especially those living in houses close to the canals and lagoons.

“The truth is that residents have turned the canals into their toilet as their landlords do not bother to provide any toilet for the tenants.

“Some houses in Lagos State have inadequate toilet facilities such that it is common to see a 14-room house with just one toilet and one bathroom.

“Many of them, bent on getting as much as possible for as little as possible from tenants, erect structures to suit their selfish purposes without any regard as to the comfort and health hazards the act constitutes.”

“The consequence is that many of the residents are forced to look for alternatives, which are not decent or hygienic enough to ease themselves.”

A resident of Ajegunle, Afe Ogho agreed.

He told The Guardian: “In some parts of the metropolis, such as Ajegunle, Amukoko and Lagos Island, a family of four or five or even six are seen living in a single room, in a compound with 18 rooms and just a toilet.”

“In a house in Ogungbe Street, where I stay in Ajegunle, there is just one toilet to serve the whole building made up of 12 rooms.

“With an average of five people to a room, how do you expect the environment to be clean? Most of the tenants use buckets in the night and empty them into the canal in the morning.”

He called on the state government to enforce the provision of toilets by landlords as well as by members of the public of those located in strategic places in the metropolis.

However, a man who manages the public toilet at Mile Two said some Lagosians continue to use the open to avoid paying the fees.

“I still see a lot of people here do it in the open. Some of them don’t want to pay the N50 for the toilets or N100 for a bathroom and toilet.

“Some want to use the toilets for free.”     But an official at the Ministry of the Environment said though there was a fine for urinating or defecating in public, the enforcement would start in the near future after enough public enlightenment.

“We will start enforcing after then and by then, the modern public toilets would have been well -distributed. The plan is to have public toilets everywhere, so nobody would have any excuse,

“ It is unlawful to urinate or defecate in public. When the culprits are arrested, they go to the Special Offences Court where the penalty is decided.”

Also, in Oshodi traders, residents are calling on the Lagos State government to arrest and persecute some social miscreants who have turned a section of the area into a toilet.

One of them, Mama Rukayat Lawal, said the nauseating smell emanating from that section of the road would soon rubbish the good job the government has done in making Agege Motor Road a beauty to behold.

The concern Lagosians are expressing concern that poor hygiene by members of the public could lead to disease outbreak.

Speaking to The Guardian over the weekend, the Director General, Lagos State Safety Commission, Mrs. Dominga Odebunmi has called on Lagosians to take personal hygiene seriously.

According to her, this would go along way in reducing mortality rate in the state.

She also warned Lagosians of the potential outbreak of Escherichia coli (E-coli), bacteria germs that cause severe cramp and diarrhea and could lead to death.

She explained that the E-coli bacteria could be contracted by eating uncooked beef, drinking unclean water, eating contaminated food, drinking unpasteurized milk, working with cattle and lack of hygiene.

She said though no cases had been reported in Nigeria; there was need for everyone, most especially Lagosians, to focus strictly on personal hygiene.

“All in all, attitudinal change towards personal hygiene is vital in preventing any form of diseases.

“ It all starts at home, workplace, market and other places where we interact.”

-Guardian

Posted by admin on Jun 13 2011. Filed under Headlines, Lagos, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry