Open defecation: Oyo traders lament inadequate toilets in market

Traders at Ogbere Idi Osan market in Ona ara local government area of Oyo state have expressed worry over the spate of open defecation in the market.

Some of the traders who spoke to TheCable during a visit to the market on Wednesday, said the development poses hazard to their business.

“It is obvious that more toilets need to be built to cater for our needs and that of our customers and I think this has been a major challenge for us,” 67-year-old Felicia Akindele, who also lamented scarcity of water for usage in the available toilets, said.

Another trader, Seliat Ogunsola, said she had been forced to improvise on the water scarcity by bringing water along from home every day for her convenience.

“I have found this routine very tough to do at my age but it is still better for me than to risk my health,” the 70-year-old said.

A few other traders said they had also improvised by avoiding direct use of the toilets.

“I use a bow for my convenience and then pour the waste into the toilet thereafter,” one of them said.

The three functioning toilets at the market cater for over 200 traders, in addition to customers, although is not gender-sensitive.

Abimbola Oderinde, a principal environmental health officer in the local government, who was sighted at the market, told TheCable that her office was pleased with the health condition in the market.

“We do sensitize the traders on the need to maintain hygiene at all times and they adhere,” she said, blaming the traders for the observed open defecation in the market.

TheCable visited the market as part of a two-media dialogue hosted in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital by the federal ministry of information’s child rights information bureau in collaboration with UNICEF, with the theme “Clean Nigeria: use the toilet campaign”.

Nigeria currently ranks first in open defecation in Africa and second to India in the world. UNICEF findings have also revealed that 47 million Nigerians engage in open defecation while only 13 of the 774 local government areas in the country are marked as Open Defecation Free (ODF).

A collaborative effort is however being launched critical stakeholders to end open defecation in Nigeria in 2025.