Two years ago, one could barely walk a kilometre in Jago Community without seeing faeces, as the people have no improved toilet to defecate.
The head of Jago community, Baale Olusegun Oparinde, told me that due to lack of toilet facilities, his people defecate in the open and in bushes. "This practice has made some of my people fall ill to cholera and exposure to dangerous animals like snake. Some of them defecate close to the river, which is the major source of water in the community. So when rain falls, the faeces are washed into the river; the same river that some of us fetch water for cooking and drinking. There is no way we won't have cholera outbreaks from time to time," Baale explained. Jago community is not the only community in Oyo State still practicing open defecation as a whooping 5,020,920 residents, representing 53.7 per cent of the total population in the state, practice open defecation, while about 3,621,520, representing 43 per cent use unimproved toilet facilities, the National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASHNORM) report revealed.
To change the narrative however, the sum of N80 million was pooled by the state government and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for implementation of Sanitation Revolving Fund (SRF) at a single digit interest rate of nine per cent to households for sanitation facilities construction.
Baale Oparinde keyed into it, by standing as a guarantor for his people to access the fund, of which they were expected to pay according to their financial status.
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As at 19th of October, 2023, I learned that over 120 households have installed Satopan, a simple technology, that can easily be implemented in any pit latrine to combat the transmission of communicable diseases.
But that didn't come without challenges, Oyewunmi Olalekan, a resident in Jago community, told me, even as he disclosed that most of them are farmers, who are struggling to feed their family; yet, it costs N60,000 to N70,000 to install a Satopan.
Olalekan, while thanking the government and UNICEF also noted, "I must acknowledge that the support from the community was overwhelming throughout the entire process, which began last year. Presently, just few households are without improved toilet. We have started contributing money for them, to ensure that every household has a toilet," Baale affirmed.
Meanwhile, UNICEF WASH specialist, Lagos State, Dr. Bisi Orebiyi, at a 2-day media dialogue on Open Defecation Free (ODF), South West States of Nigeria, in Oyo State, organised by UNICEF, averred that for Oyo State government to achieve open defecation free by 2028, an estimated N173,191,198,400 is needed to finance the sanitation sector from 2022 to 2028.
