“The importance of the facility in the global fight against open defecation was therefore lost on the commentators. The issue snowballed into a whole deputy governor attending the event in person, and lending the weight of his big office to the commissioning of ‘toilets’.”
LAST Saturday, the 27th of August, the heavens opened and rain descended across Akwa Ibom state.
It was a cold and wet day, but Ikot Akpan Nkuk, headquarters of Ukanafun Local government council, one of the pioneer local government areas in Akwa Ibom state, braved the downpour to host the commissioning of modern public conveniences donated by an indigene of the area for use by workers in the Council. Although erroneously described as “ultra modern,” what was commissioned can not by any standard be termed “ultra modern” because ultra-modern toilets now do not use water; they are digitally operated and faeces and urine disappear as the user leaves the toilet seat. These are used in smart buildings where everything is controlled digitally. All the same, it is good enough for the purpose for which it was meant in the area it is sited.
Those at the commissioning included dignitaries such as Mr Moses Ekpo, deputy governor of the state; traditional rulers, Mr Udeme Ufot, one of the leading Advertising practitioners in the country; Mr Aniekan Ukpanah, Managing Partner and Head of Banking & Finance practice, Udo Udoma & Bello-Osagie law firm, Lagos; Hon Aniekan Umanah, member House of Representatives, Mr Emmanuel Enoidem, former National Legal adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party and senatorial candidate of the party in the district; and a bevy of political chieftains from the environs. The building housing the facilities was donated by Mr. Ekan Ukpanah, President of Nung Ukpanah family Union, to the National Union of Local government employees (NULGE), Ukanafun Chapter.
Ekan was worried about the non availability of such facility in the work environment of a local government headquarters which had been in existence for more than forty years. “As an environmentalist, I know the importance of public conveniences; and as a town planner, I can’t approve permits for buildings without such facilities,” he stated at the event. The Deputy Governor popularly called Uncle MO, described the public toilets as a vital facility which will encourage seriousness at work.
He paid tribute to the Ukpanah family for sustaining the legacy started by their forbears recalling that it was the late Asuquo Ukpanah, who led the fight for the creation of the Local Government Council, while his younger brother, the late Senator Akaninyene Ukpanah, was its pioneer Chairman.
Although the event was well received by the prospective users, the calibre of people who attended it became a subject of controversy. The importance of the facility in the global fight against open defecation was therefore lost on the commentators. The issue snowballed into a deputy governor attending the event in person, and lending the weight of his big office to the commissioning of ‘toilets’. Dean Evergreen screamed ‘in this era, people are still commissioning toilets. The Deputy Governor is not even ashamed to be engaged in such scrimmage’.
Celestine Mel, an Abuja based public affairs commentator was aghast, and wrote: “In 2022, when Elon Musk is finalizing preparation to relocate some folks to Mars on a one-way ticket; when his the constellation of Starlink satellites is set to beam high-speed wireless internet to the remotest corners of the earth from space; when Dubai has already launched the first metropolitan drone taxi service; when MTN is rolling out 5G wireless internet to most urban centers in Nigeria; when speed trains are connecting European capitals at 350 km/h; when cars are about to migrate from dependence on fossil fuels to renewables; when the wealth of nations are no longer measured by the size of their natural resources but the depth of their knowledge base, we in our dear state are holding intellectual discussions about the propriety or otherwise of commissioning modern toilets in a local government council by the deputy governor,” he further penned. A lot more was said and written.
However, those who left the essence of the facility and fumed about the attendance by dignitaries at the commissioning may have forgotten its alignment with one of the core items of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) and its successor programme, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) which has good health, well being and sanitation as important concerns.
A Public Affairs commentator, Vincent Aluu, took a different look at the situation and noted that faeces is a natural consequence of the things we eat and for as long as we exist, it always will be produced; and like all the other tons of waste produced everyday (including garbage), it has to be properly disposed of get of, else the environment will not be conducive to live in.
According to him “the way we think of toilets must undergo a fundamental shift if we are to see meaningful progress. We must put the user experience front and centre.” He claimed Nigeria has overtaken India in the open defecation rating and is now number one. “How Nigeria overtook India is a matter of serious concern.” He pointed out that India has a population of 1.353 billion people and 3.287 million km2 land area, against Nigeria’s estimated 200 million people and 923,769km2 land area.
According to Aluu, ‘Apart from bringing a negative social stigma to Nigeria, given its status as the giant of Africa, open defecation also poses obvious environmental, health and economic problems for Nigeria and its nationals. It pollutes the environment and exposes children and adults to critical health problems.
Etido Ibekwe, a medical doctor, while underscoring the importance of public conveniences stated that ’emptying of bowels is actually an involuntary action by the peristaltic movement of the intestines. Once the descending colon is full, the urge to defecate comes naturally. However, if this urge is controlled habitually by the individual, it predisposes to constipation. The resultant effect of this to the body is that of retaining toxins that would otherwise have been excreted and expelled from the body. When toxins are retained, it predisposes to ailments that can lead to liver and kidney failures or other organ failure’. In a society consumed by poverty and superstition and without adequate medical facilities, who knows how many people from that area have died from complications arising from their inability to empty their bowels at the time they had the urge?
The provision of the public conveniences at Ikot Akpan Nkuk, Ukanafun by an indigene, Ekan Ukpanah and the Deputy Governor lending the weight of his big office to the formal commissioning may not have been well received by a section of the people; but it shows the love of one privileged indigene for his people. Enoidem said the provision and its official commissioning signposts the evolution from outright open and indiscriminate defecation, using the bush and pit latrines by our people.
There is a possibility that there are hundreds of local Council headquarters in Nigeria, public schools, offices, places of worship, marketplaces, shopping malls, motor parks and health facilities lacking in such critical infrastructure. This little but vital contribution by Ekan Ukpanah shows that well-to-do individuals can help their communities to meet some need; and not just stand, stare and complain.
On the whole, I wonder what was racing through the minds of some of the political leaders who gathered to witness the event since some of them had occupied high positions of responsibility in that local council, at the state and national level.
- Dr Nana is the Founder, Uyo Book Club and the leading promoter of the Book Club initiative in Akwa Ibom State.
