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Trending! JAGO: How 183-Year-old Ibadan Community Won War Against Open Defecation 

October 24, 2023
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Sola POPOOLA

183 years after it existence,JAGO, an obscured community in Ona-Ara Local Government, Ibadan ,Oyo State capital gained prominence as a result of the communal effort to improve hygiene and sanitation practices .

The ancient community established in 1840 ,though still battling with acute water shortage  has embraced a simple toilet design christened SATOPAN.
Recall that United Nations Children’s Fund’s  Chief for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Nigeria, Ms. Jane Beavan had  said that  more than half of the people in the Oyo State lacked access to safe toilets.

She urged residents of Oyo State to support the efforts of the government to end open defecation.

According to her “Children are the ones that suffer the most when there are outbreaks of diseases like cholera and others.More than half of the people of Oyo (state) do not have access to safe toilets, and that means more than half of the population practise open defecation.” She said

The 2021 Water Sanitation and Hygiene National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASHNORM) report  revealed that about 5,020,920 residents, representing 53.7 per cent of the total population of Oyo State, practice open defecation, while about 3,621,520, representing 43 per cent use unimproved toilet facilities.

The report also said only 8.4 per cent of households have access to basic hand washing services.

With these   frightening statistics notwithstanding ,it is interesting to note that ,Jago community  attained this enviable status while many households in the urban centre are still practising open defecation.
Though, the success was not achieved on a platter .The community head ,Baale  Olusegun Oparinde who spoke to a group of journalists  assembled by  UNICEF, who were on a workshop to make Nigeria,Open Defecation Free(ODF) said the success was  by  communal effort .
UNICEF WASH specialist, Mr. Monday Johnson had said that recent report from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics revealed that  about 48 million Nigerians still practice Open Defecation  inspite of the rigorous campaign against it .Oyo state is leading the chart in the SouthWest.
Johnson who  took journalists through the various hygiene cadres said that  the disposal of human faeces in the open, including fields, forests, bushes, open bodies of water and other open spaces is a common practice in the country.He said that it was high time ,journalists probe into  the behavioural change  practices at homes and evaluate its impact .
However ,Baale Oparinde said frequent complaints by his subjects  on the  danger associated with open  defecation in the community informed  the bold and courageous action against it .Oparinde, hitherto, watched his subjects fall ill on many occasions due to contamination  of the water used in the community.
He spoke of how the community had to live with the menace of offensive odour  oozing out from  the adjoining bushes due to indiscriminate dumping of  faeces, coupled with reports of snake bite.
Oparinde, a retired soldier said he had to adopt a carrot and stick approach for members of the community to embrace the initiative on improved hygiene .
He said that before now, it was only his house that had a functional toilet in the community, as inhabitants defecate in the open field.
Baale Jago said at some point ,he had to threaten to lock up  any building without a toilet in the community when the situation was becoming unbearable.

Chief Oparinde said the community only had access to Osun River and about two borehole pumps, strategically placed in some spots within Jago. “When they use the bush, the faeces get washed into the river in the community, so we can not drink from it. There is no enough borehole for us to use in Jago.”

“The toilet project has ridden the community of open defecation. Before now, we used bushes around us to defecate. We perceived odours, and you can not trek a distance without stepping on faeces.

Constructing these toilets came as a huge relief not just to parents and children but also to the entire community.

“We had a series of pre-planning meetings with community members, during which we discussed the project and execution and made plans for the smooth start of the toilet construction,” Chief Oparinde said.

“I must acknowledge that the support from the community was overwhelming throughout the entire process, which began last year.”

Though Jago experienced a low rate of cholera, in the past, some who used bushes fell inside wells.

He ,however expressed joy that virtually al, the household in the community can boast of a Toilet.
Baale Oparinde said members of his community were spreading the awareness and sensitisation  to other neighbouring communities for them to key into improved sanitation and hygiene .
The historic visit also afforded  journalists the opportunity to interface with the Toilet Providers otherwise known as ” Toilet Business Owners (TBO) and Heads of the households “
The TBOs involve in the advocacy   of better sanitation and hygiene. They encourage every household to Osun a toilet., at least a satopan.

The  vendors, involved with the distribution of toilet products along the supply chain, from initial sales to transportation and installation, showcasing the valuable roles of TBOs in Nigeria’s ambitious transformation in hygiene development and the growth of its sanitation economy.

One of the  country’s Sustainable Development Goals was  to achieve 100percent  access to water services by 2030. Nigeria is currently on a mission to provide safer, cleaner, and more reliable sanitation infrastructure to everyone, across all strata of society.

As important ambassadors for better sanitation solutions, advocates of hygiene development in rural communities, and SATO customers, TBOs will be key facilitators to the achievement of this ambition.

The head of the TBO team, Mr. Adegboyega Kolawole spoke about the success and challenges in the business.

Much as every household desire to embrace the initiative of owning a toilet  they lack the financial capacity to sustain it .
Funding is the key  issue here .The  TBO is embracing creative and striking traditional marketing strategies to promote sales. Branded T-shirts and caps, as well as more traditional promotional materials such as posters and pamphlets, are both valued and effective methods of spreading awareness of readily available hygiene and sanitation solutions among rural communities.
TBOs ranked physical promotional materials, as well as linking with sales agents, as two of the most helpful contributors to their business, insisting sales had increased considerably following Microfinance institution’s support in Egbeda and Ona-ara Local government areas.

“Some people cannot afford one squirting-pan, which costs N15,000 now. So, many go for the option of satopan which costs just N2,500, but the construction, costs about N60,000”.“To construct one, we need 4 inches pipe, 4 inches elbow, cover, cement, and blocks,” he said.

With about 120 satopan and with  more funding, there is opportunity for greater expansion of sanitation products and infrastructure into rural communities

Microfinance, or small loans that don’t require interests or collateral, should be offered to these rural communities that are long forgotten by government, as this could spur more low-cost toilets in the country.

TBO, which offers a total funding of around N60,000-N70,000 per toilet, works largely with governmental organisations, such as Oyo State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA), that offers water and sanitation services to villagers around the Oyo State.

The Federal Government selected some states for special intervention by the UNICEF on Programme on Education, Health, Nutrition, and Water Supply. Oyo State is one of the selected states for these UNICEF Programme. The Programme for Water Supply is under UNICEF – Assisted Water and Sanitation (WATSAN) Project.

The OYO RUWASSA commenced with the software components (Community Mobilization/Hygiene Education, Sanitation, etc) in 1992 in the Ministry of Health and later moved to the Governor’s Office. The hardware components are the geophysical survey, drilling operation, platform construction, Pump Installation, Latrine construction. Drilling operation commenced on 23rd February, 1993.

The UNICEF Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) recently found that a large percentage of the country still lacked reliable access to basic water supplies – an absolute necessity for better hygiene and sanitation in developing communities. Therefore, if Nigeria is to reach its goal, over the next seven years more than 179 million Nigerians will need to be accounted for, and TBOs will play a crucial role in meeting this challenge head on.

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