By Chioma Umeha
Many people of Bangai in Riyom Local Government
Area(LGA), Plateau State were still less ignorant when Samuel died. He was a
10-year-old pupil of Bangai Community primary school.
‘Samuel was pressed to pass feaces, so he quickly
dashed into the closest bush. With his tiny frail hands, he quickly reached out
for a short stick and quickly he has made a little hole. There he passed
feaces. Immediately, he plucked some fresh leaves from a nearby plant to clean
his butt. He hurriedly cleaned himself, leaving some of the feacal matter on
his hands.
Then it was common practice for not only children,
even adults to defecate openly in many communities in Bangai.
Washing of hands was hardly practiced. The only
stream in the school community was less than one kilometre away. But, the path
to the stream was rough, hilly, unsecured and its water was not safe for
drinking.
Bangai is one example of hundreds of communities
in Nigeria where access to safe water, adequate sanitation and hygiene
facilities is still lacking.
Bangai is in Riyom Local Government Area of
Plateau State.
Many people in the area practise bad hygiene,
including open defecation. But, when the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF), sensitised the populace to the dangers of poor hygiene, they decided
to turn a new leaf.
The crisis of lack of access to safe water,
adequate sanitation and hygiene facilities in Bangai seems like one of the ugly
narrative of a crisis-laden health sector according to some community members.
Mrs. Victoria Gyang Head Teacher, Community
Primary School, Bangai Local Education Area in Plateau State confirmed this
said when spoke to DAILY INDEPENDENT.
Gyang said, “Before now, to defecate was simple in
Bangai community, but unhealthy. All that anyone needed to do was to just use a
stick and make a hole, then pass faeces in it.
“People easily reached out for any nearby fresh
leaves to clean their butts.
Washing of hands with or without soap was completely a strange
exercise,” she added.
The Head Teacher bemoaned deaths of many Bangai
children from water-borne diseases.
She said, “Then, we often had emergencies as
children were often coming down with waterborne disease such as cholera,
diarrhoea, among others.”
“It is sad, we have lost many children in this
community due to lack of access to safe drinking water and poor hygiene,” Gyang
further said.
“Samuel was an orphan and a Primary Three pupil
being raised by her relatives. He was among those whose parents died during the
2008 crisis.”
She lamented, “Many of the children die before the
age of five and their dreams are buried with them.”
Open defecation is almost common everywhere around
the country. Recently, back in the city of Lagos, for instance, a young man
dashed out of his shop with clenched teeth, pulled open his trousers, took a
quick look around, retired to a small bush by the church building, and dropped
off lumps of smelly faeces.
His action did not surprise many passers-by who
merely looked away, for it is a ritual of sort in many parts of the country. In
nearly every open space in and around rural communities, heaps of faeces
literally jostle for space with human beings. From some homes, faeces wrapped
up in newspapers are thrown from windows, scattering into a spatter mess; it
piles the streets as though they are articles of ornament. However, no one
appeared to worry about it.
In Bangai, Yakubu Bwede, the chief of the
community, said, “What you often found in few privileged homes was a makeshift
toilet in which wooden plank platform were constructed with buckets under it.
“Family members often dropped off lumps of smelly
faeces into the bucket which they disposed later. The sight of such was quite repulsive.
However, the European Union (EU) funded UNICEF
programme, has changed all that in Bangai. It did not only provide borehole for
the community school, but has built a modern toilet for it. So far, the
facilities have started to improve hand-washing compliance and water and
sanitation standards in the school.
The students on their part have become change
agents as they spread the good news to their parents, educating them of the
benefits derivable from such practice.
Explaining measures which are taken to ensure that
all pupils in Bangai Primary School use the toilet and do not defecate in the
bush, Catherine John, Toilet/Health Prefect said, they often discipline those
who defecate in the bush to serve as deterrence. “We flog those that still go
to toilet in the bush and ask them not to go to the bush again.”
Concerning maintenance of hygiene in the toilets,
Catherine said; “We ensure that the toilets are locked and whoever wants to use
it often requests for the key to gain access to it. The reason we lock the
toilet is to ensure that they flush it after use.” As at the time DAILY
INDEPENDENT visited Bangai in March, the community has embraced good hygiene.
Confirming this, Bwede, said they have gradually,
but steadily embraced the new development. He said the community had agreed to
make it mandatory for every household to provide toilet facility.
The chief of the community also said, “Those who
do not comply with this directive, which is monitored periodically, are fined
N2000 as penalty for not doing so.
“Such money collected is used to provide public
toilet for the community so that everyone could be part of this live-saving
intervention from UNICEF. This has reduced the incidents of death occasioned by
bacteria-induced infections by over two third. And we are grateful to
EU/UNICEF,” he told DAILY INDEPENDENT.
Corroborating, Danlami Choji, Chairman, Parents
Teachers Association (PTA) Bangai Community Primary School, said since the
borehole was built we don’t see people go to the river again. Most people in
this community now use the borehole instead of going to the river.
Choji also said, “The borehole is better than the
river. Though the river is close, but people are now using the borehole instead
of the going to the river.
“Fetching water from the borehole is more
convenient, safer and healthier than the river. Stories of children bitten by
dangerous reptiles or fighting inside the river has become a past thing.
“Water-borne diseases like cholera, diarrhoea,
typhoid and so on were common, when we were using water from the river. But
since we started drinking water from the borehole, this has reduced. We have
about 10 boreholes and they are all are working.”
Challenge of unsafe water and poor hygiene
Safe water, adequate sanitation and hygiene
facilities are critical to the survival, growth and well-being of the child.
This is because safe water is essential for life and sanitation. Good hygiene
also enhances good health.
In Nigeria, however, access to clean water and
sanitation is generally improving – but at a slow pace.
The recent Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey
(MICS), conducted by the government in 2016/17 indicated that about 40 per cent
of households and over 69 million people do not have access to clean water in
Nigeria.
Water-borne diseases and childhood mortality
However, UNICEF indicated that children without
access to safe water are more likely to die in infancy or during childhood from
waterborne diseases.
It added that diarrhoea remains the leading cause
of death among children under the age of five in Nigeria.
The UNICEF report said, “Waterborne diseases also
contribute to stunting of growth in children. A stunted child is shorter than
she or he could have been and will never be able to reach her or his full
cognitive potential.”
“Children are dying every day from diseases, such
as diarrhoea, even though we know how to prevent them,” said Clarissa
Brocklehurst, chief of water and sanitation for UNICEF.
“We must work hand in hand – health professionals
alongside engineers – to ensure that improvements in water supply, sanitation
and hygiene reach everyone.”
UNICEF noted that diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid and
other diseases can easily be prevented with cheap and proven interventions such
as pit latrines and hand-washing with soap.
Regardless, progress has been ‘painfully slow’ in
many developing countries, the organisation said.
