FEATURE: How Bauchi LGA Attain Open Defecation Free (ODF) Status
By Khalid Idris Doya
Open Defecation (OD) is a global phenomenon especially among third world countries such as Nigeria where people often defecate openly thereby posing health hazards to their respective communities through the spread of airborne and other communicable diseases such as cholera, typhoid and diarrhea, among others, resulting from their attitude of open Defecation.
This phenomenon is being checked by concerned countries, responsible governments and or authorities, especially Development Partners, Donors, Civil Society Organisations, and even Environmentalists and other associated bodies, as was the case with Bauchi Local government Area in the state of Nigeria where responsible authorities or bodies during the 2024 World Toilet Day commemoration certified the area as Open Defecation Free (ODF).
Bauchi Local Government Area, one of the biggest not only in the state, but in the entire country, was declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) by the National Task Group on Sanitation (NTGS) and national and local agencies, civil society organizations in collaboration and with the support of the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).
One of the stakeholders in the resolve against open defecation and the substantive District Head of Miri in Bauchi metropolis Alh. Hussaini Abubakar Othman who also holds the traditional title of Dan Jikan Bauchi, said “When the agenda to make Bauchi LGA defecation free came to the fore, we welcomed the idea and swung into action of environmental sanitation and safety.
Dan-Jikan Bauchi stated, “So, I don’t think there in Africa, we do have an effective ways or channels of communication to the general public besides the structures of the traditional institution or rulers.”
Miri explained that the hamlet and ward heads go round the communities to admonish people, cautioning them about the dangers inherent in open defecation, especially during rainy season when flowing water would take the defecation into the wells and ponds where people fetch drinking water.
He stated that it is through such methods and similar ones that the Bauchi Local Government was able to achieve the status of Open Defecation Free, in addition to the special regards the people were giving to the traditional rulers of leaders, who succeeded their forefathers in the leadership circle, as they also keep to the words of their leaders.
Alh. Hussaini Othman noted that the sustenance or keeping up the status of the ODF in the Bauchi LGA is to continue with the admonishment through the Clergymen at Mosques and Churches, who were already in action in this regard, in addition to people with the new development, are changing their mode of toileting to that of water system, as against the pit latrines.
Othman, however, expressed dismay with the attitudes of some people, especially those who holds the believe that, if they didn’t defecate outside on land surface, it is against their superstitious beliefs, stressing that even such cantankerous persons are being convinced through various persuasive messages, as the traditional leaders are commanding under a purposeful leadership.
A Fulani ward head, Muhammad Dauda of Rugar Fulanin Kaba in Zungur district of Bauchi Local Government Area said that they inherited from their forefathers who settled there about 270 years ago, now constituting a number of about 2000 inhabitants of the village which, he argued, lacks medical facility for healthcare services delivery to better their health.
They also lack a motorable road to convey sick persons or deliver pregnant women to a health facility in far long Liman Katagum town, saying regrettably that three of their pregnant women recently delivered on their way to a health facility. He however said that they have a primary school, and a number of four boreholes that provide water for both human and animal consumption.
Malam Muhammad Dauda explained that in their collective resolve to attain the status of ODF following a directive from the Bauchi emirate council, they have constructed latrine pits in their individual homes to curb their families from possible open defecation, as they also constructed a pit for pupils of their primary school.
Hannatu Musa one of women leaders at the Rugar Fulanin Kaba who recalled that before the demise of their breadwinner, they were having two pit latrines in their compound, but with the sensitization against open defecation, they have increased the pits to four in number for easy conveniences.
Auwalu Musa is a vibrant youth in the village, belongs to WASH voluntary association who said that they were vigorously enlightening the village people against open defecation, as they are also using their monthly monetary contributions in undertaking environmental cleanliness of the village surroundings in the efforts to promote good health of the people.
Also speaking in the same vein is the chairman of Bauchi Local Government Association of Toilet Owners & Operators, Ibrahim Kabo Umar who called on the general public to adhere strictly to the norms and ethics which have come into consideration by the Bauchi state government.
Alh. Kabo Umar expressed delight that Bauchi Local Government Council has come inline with the ethics of becoming free from open defecation, saying the business of toilet operation has been embraced by many of the Bauchi entrepreneurs, as he welcomes anybody who is willing to come into the business.
Bauchi State Environmental Protection Agency (BASEPA) is one of the critical stakeholders that collaborated in making the Bauchi Local Government Area, which was the seat of power as the state capital, to the status of open defecation free.
The Agency’s Director-General, Mohammed Ahmed Bose described the attainment of ODF, not only in Bauchi LGA, but also other LGs in the state as a very long journey being undertaken by relevant MDAs, stakeholders, Development Partners, Donor agencies and CSOs, among others, battling with to attain the ODF, by the Bauchi LGA as a successful journey.
Bose explained that BASEPA is physically part of that journey with some of its staff currently working with a team of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA) in terms of sensitisation, community sanitation with regard to the status attainment of ODF by the Bauchi LGA.
Bose said that there have been a lot of challenges in the attainment of the ODF, stating, “It is something that you are dealing with human attitudes, so it requires a lot of sensitisation and advocacy, working closely with community and traditional leaders, market unions, youth, CSOs and of course the Journalists to see that we have enlighten our people, sense them, educate them on the dangers of open Defecation, which it has great significance in the outbreak of cholera and other water-borne diseases which we are battling in the state.”
Alh. Bose, who assured that with the kind of stakeholders the stakeholders-ship and the commitment of all the Stakeholders, they are going to attain sustainability for the ODF not only in Bauchi LGA, but also in other local government areas of the state.
“When you talk of safety, there are alot of occupational hazards that arise as a result of their practices, there are also other occupational hazards we are talking about, so these are areas where we are working very closely with the key actors and practitioners. We have a safety department which is always educating them on safety procedures which is part of the guideline”.
“This is where the issue of sensitisation comes in, enlightenment, that’s why I am talking of having all that stakeholders on board, it’s a collective responsibility, its not just a responsibility of BASEPA, also the media, you have a very significant role to play in terms of public enlightenment, a lot of engagement with people, CSOs, this is where we need more hands on deck”.
“So that at least we can collectively work to see that people are more enlightened, it’s all about the issue of enlightenment, rigorous sensitization, working closely with community leaders, traditional and religious leaders, then the last option, we have an agency, the enlightenment tool which we have a mobile court, of course something we have to use force where people refuse to adhere to the laid down procedures, so we have a mobile court which we would be prosecuting people”.
“You cannot separate environment with the issue of mobile court in every state you will have the Environmental Protection Agency using mobile court, it’s because of the human attitudes, and the mobile court is there to prosecute people, so that it can serve as deterrent to others, not to mailsise these laid down procedures and protocol”.
“Infact, as part of our budget 2025, we have a Dr provision of about N200 million which is budgeted for this issue of public toilets construction, and not only ordinary public toilets which we have a model in the state, which encompasses the issue of menstrual health, menstrual hygiene. The safety and dignity of our women, our children, so it’s a befitting toilet that is all encompassing.
“Now that we want take it to the public places, it is their responsibilities to at least provide sanity facility when you have an area, you need to provide sanitary facility for those that are occupying these offices, so we are going to work closed through advocacy with all the government and MDAs, so that at least we have SUBEB on board, ministry of education and market unions”.
“Now it Is a policy in the state that when you construct a plaza, you have to provide adequate toilet facilities for so many people. This is the ratio of toilets you are going to provide, so we are working closely with the state development board to see that as part of the approval of the building. We must ensure that they have adequate toilet facilities that can cater for the needs of the people.”
“And in terms of public places like I say, we are going to have an advocacy to all those relevant Stakeholders, so that at least we can have releases from our budget so that at least areas where there is the need for us to construct these toilet facilities, when you we have a budgetary release I Am hopeful His Excellency, the Executive Governor, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed has been doing wonderfully in this aspect, I know of course, we are going to have these releases, so we are going to put all measures in place to see that we have provided enough facilities that can cater for the needs of our people.”
He continued: “BASEPA has been a key stakeholder in this journey, and also as part of the efforts of the agency, we have been working on this issue of fakers slogs management. ODF is just beyond attaining the ODF without looking at the other aspect of the fakers management”.
“When you say Bauchi Local Government Area is ODF, while in our collection centres we have hiccups of huge slogs there, it is as good as we cannot, or we are contradicting ourselves. So, as part of the efforts, the agency is regulating the issue of fakers slogs management, which we have done stakeholder mapping for all the key actors in these slogs management where we identify both manual and mechanized PDMTS which we form a union for them”.
“Now they have an umbrella, we registered them with the agency and have a series of capacity building to them, together with RUWASSA, UNICEF and other Donor Partners, which we built their capacities on best management practices on this issue of faecal Sludge management. Beyond capacity building, we also tried to come up with faecal Sludge management guidelines which is the first of its kind in the country”.
“BASEPA came up with the guidelines with the support of UNICEF. After having the guidelines, UNICEF through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation employed an international consultant to see how we can perfect this document, so that at least we can think on how to implement it”.
Alh. Mohammed Bose revealed that Bauchi state now has fakers slogs management implementation strategy which is climate resilience, and which has taken care of all the climatic risks that Bauchi has in terms of flooding and windstorm.
“So now, we are not just talking about the issue of having the fakers slogs implementation strategy, is also about climate resilience, the whole world is now taking about climate resilience WASH which is part of the sustainability aspect putting in place to see that we have control the issue of ODF sustainability in the state”.
“So, we are doing all that we can from the agency’s part to see that all our stakeholders are conversant with the document that we have which ultimately would help in achieving the issue of safe management sanitation that the whole world is talking about. So we are putting all mechanisms in place to see that the sustainability of attaining this ODF is well achieved”.
BASEPA, also as part of the efforts is working with WaterAid Nigeria under their Accelerator Project, we already have a User Centre for friendly toilets which was commissioned last two weeks at the Multi-purpose hall, Bauchi. The User Centre friendly toilet is also a sustainability mechanism for ODF in which we are planning to have toilet facilities in most of our public places and markets”.
The agency is also working closely with the private sector to see how it can have more investments in these aspects so that it should be private sector driven where people should invest their money so that at least the agency can reduce the burden on the government to attain the sustainability of the ODF in the state.
“The partnership between BASEPA and UNICEF is very strong, these are those who sponsored the validation of the document that we have, this fakers slogs management guideline, BASEPA come up with the guideline and UNICEF supported in conducting the stakeholders engagement, bringing all the stakeholders on board, sensitizing them, working closely with religious and traditional leaders to see that the guidelines BASEPA have is participatory”.
“So, it is more like a participatory approach during the development of the guidelines, all these were supported by UNICEF, also the UNICEF further supported the issue of implementation, coming up with the implementation strategy of this issue of fakers slogs management in the state”, Bose also revealed.
The Executive chairman of Bauchi local government, Alhaji Mahmood Baba Maaji assured that the Local Government Council will do everything humanly and administratively possible to sustain the open defecation-free (ODF) status it recently attained after many years.
According to him, “Before the sustainability aspect of it, the local government went through the validation process. As part of the efforts, we have pulled together the structures we have put in place.
“So the validation came at a time when I was not the chairman of the local government, but we are following closely because since it is our local government, we have to pay attention. So we got the validation, and the local government, luckily, has gotten the certification. So we give gratitude to Almighty Allah.”
“So when I came for the second time, I was very, very happy because there was significant and remarkable improvement in that aspect. So we now started with the management of the status, and the Council of the local government adopted a strategy for a sustainability framework, which will now guide us toward achieving a very sustainable plan for the local government in the short, medium, and long term,” he stressed.
He added that, “So, we feel it is important to improve our funding of the WASH Unit because, without adequate funding in terms of logistics, it will be difficult for them to achieve. We took that upon ourselves, adopted the issue, and are working on our policies for a positive outcome.”
Baba Maaji said, “All praises are due to Almighty Allah. First and foremost, we must appreciate the efforts and commitment of our dear Governor, His Excellency, Distinguished Senator Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir, for making it possible for the local government to participate actively in areas where we can positively impact the lives of our people.”
He said, “The issue of the ODF started during my first tenure, my first time as the local government council chairman. At that time, there was a very serious challenge. When I came on board, Bauchi Local Government was one of the local governments identified as having challenges with open defecation.”
“So we started working on the way out, and given the circumstances, coupled with His Excellency’s commitment and priority given to the health sector by declaring a state of emergency in the health sector, we took it upon ourselves that we have to do something about the situation,” he added.
According to him, “So we feel it is very important because it is even kind of embarrassing for the local government representative at that time for the Bauchi local government, the state capital, to be declared as one of the local governments with challenges of open defecation.”
“So we started by giving much significance and priority to our WASH unit to ensure that we adequately come together and then partner, putting our hands together. First, we ensured we identified all the public areas, like the markets, the terminals, and other public areas that were having this kind of challenge,” he added.
He further stated, “So we tried to adopt a model where we could conscientise our people, sensitise them, and get them more informed of the health risks associated with that challenge. That was the first thing we took upon ourselves—to create awareness among the people.”
He said it really helped a great deal at that time because people put a lot of effort into monitoring and supervision to ensure that people were adequately informed because, “When you don’t have adequate information, you would feel that you can just do things the way you want. So, we didn’t allow that to happen at that time.”
The Council Chairperson added that at that time, he ensured that the Council worked together with the partners, particularly UNICEF, stating, “We worked together with the traditional rulers as part of the stakeholders and other very key stakeholders at the local government.”
Another way to sustain the ODF status, according to the chairman, is that the Council equally feels it is important to look at existing laws relating to it, stressing that “We have to adopt the strategy for punishment for offenders so that those people who are found wanting can be corrected in order to serve as a deterrent to others. We must maintain what we have done.”
He assured that, “We are going to work closely with the donor agencies that are working in the state, including the Sanitation and Hygiene Fund, which is the donor agency, with esteemed commitment and dedication in order to improve on this sustainability.”
On faecal sludge management strategy, he said that the Council would key into it with all seriousness, especially the new SHF project being anchored by WaterAid Nigeria, which has now given an opportunity for accelerating inclusive sanitation and hygiene economies in Nigeria.”
He stressed that the local government has even distributed some needs assessment forms to all the councillors to bring out some of the concerns of the people from the ward level, stressing that “We feel it is very important for us to construct new sanitation and hygiene facilities, and where we feel it’s important to renovate some, we will do just that.”
“So, these are some of the areas that we think we can do the faecal sludge management, and we feel also that other stakeholders can now come in, with a view to ensuring that adequate opportunities in terms of business and investments are given a chance.”
He also commended UNICEF for the various impactful interventions that contributed to the LG attaining the ODF status, stressing that over the years, UNICEF has supported training and capacity building as well as technical support for improved WASH services.
Mahmud Baba Maaji then appealed to the residents and inhabitants of the government to take the issue of WASH very seriously because that is the only way to check the spread of waterborne diseases.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), a key partner in this progress, disclosed that effective faecal Sludge management is capable of addressing the menace of open defecation in communities.
State Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Facilitator Supporting the UNICEF, Abdulsalam Abdullahi Mohammed observed that, if wealth can be created from the human waste (faeces) it will lead to attainment of ODF status in the remaining local government areas of the state.
“What will also spark the attainment of ODF by the remaining LGs is trying to create wealth from the waste, and having more private sector participation will solve the problem”, he explained.
Mohammed said once people realised that human faeces can be used to create energy or turn it to organic manure to be used for farming activities, open defecation will stop.
“If there is value in this shit, if you can tap energy from it, if you can utilize it effectively and turn it to organic manure, we are good to go”, he said.
The WASH Facilitator disclosed that currently, companies from Abuja are beginning to come to Bauchi to collaborate with some private sector to put up a farm where they plant fruits and ensure that they stick to using organic fertilizer.
“Very soon when you see human faeces in Bauchi in the open you will be shocked, you will be seen as someone throwing away his money. It will interest you to know that UNICEF’s next big move on sanitation is an innovative sanitation drive. Let’s replicate what has worked well and see how we can improve on having safely managed sanitation that is affordable”, he said.
Mohammed said leading innovations and creating opportunities for private sector participation are part of the key drives that UNICEF is actually pushing for.
According to him, after the certification of Nine Local Government Areas as open defecation free (ODF) by the National Task Group on Sanitation (NTGS), three other LGAs in the state are also at the verge of being certified.
He commended Governor Bala Mohammed’s administration for being proactive in ensuring that the state became open defecation free.
Nanbam Michael Dawap, Water and Sanitation Officer, UNICEF Bauchi Field office also said that the journey to ODF in Bauchi state started over ten years ago and has succeeded in local government areas of the state.
Dawap who explained that the UNICEF supported Bauchi state government to mobilise communities, said a community led total sanitation approach was used to ensure that communities understand what is open defecation free and its benefits and the dangers of practicing open defecation itself.
She emphasised, “Without safely managed sanitation, women are prone to attacks, abuse, and shaming because open defecation is not dignifying, especially for women.”
“Women don’t have a dignified life because, where there is no toilet, a woman is forced to go outside and practice open defecation. This is not dignifying, and as a result, she has to go to a nearby bush where she is prone to violent attacks. That is not acceptable,” she added.
