Open Defecation and Public Toilets Importance: An Economic Perspective

Abstract

It is a truism to say that despite Nigeria’s population, strong economic track record, poverty was significant with about 71% of Nigeria’s population living on less than $1 per day and decline in income growth in the coming half century will likely lead to a tremendous rise in the practice of open defecation demand and can lead to violence against girls and even married women popularly known as a social stigma. Presently around 50 million people defecate in the open. Another 68 million are likely to be added between now and 2030. Globally, more than one billion people are engaged in open defecation practice while 47 million or 26% of Nigerians practice open defecation, it is contributing to many problems, including water pollution and spread of diseases leading to childhood malnutrition. Around 87,000 Nigerian children below 5 die of diarrhoea yearly. Nigeria loses NGN 455 billion or US $ 3.6 billion annually due to poor sanitation. This is 1.3% of the national GDP. The report also stated that about 70 million Nigerian’s use unsanitary or shared latrines, 32 million use no latrines at all or defecate in the open, and 25% of the poorest of the population are ten times more likely to practice open defecation than the richest. The study had it all that open defecation cost Nigeria US$1 billion annually while eliminating the practice would require about 6.5 million latrines. A breakdown of economic impact of poor sanitation in Nigeria, report disclosed that Nigeria lost about US $43 million annually to access time as each person practicing open defecation spent almost 2.5 days a year finding a private location to defecate. Also $2.5 billion was lost yearly to premature death from diarrhea, 90% of which was directly attributed to poor water, sanitation and hygiene. Another $13 million was lost due to productivity losses arising from sicknesses accessing healthcare services. Also, the report estimated that about $191 million was lost through healthcare expenditure. Public toilet market in Nigeria was estimated to be about N300 million yearly and has almost 70% of this market. Public toilets provided an alternative to the current widespread practice, where people answer the call of nature openly around their environment thereby creating health hazards for the public. Although significant progress was made in recent years, Nigeria may not reach 100% open-defecation-free status by 2025 without a change in strategy. If Nigeria cannot achieve the target, Africa cannot.

Keywords: Health hazards, Social stigma, Open defecation demand, Income growth, Strategy, Nigeria