Hi friends, about 9 days ago I talked about this topic and how it's affected the lives and creatures in the river. The Nature of Nigeria's Ecology: A Case Study of Okrika Waterways today am bordered about flood caused by blocked drainages.
The nature of our ecology is very crucial to our existence and good health. Nigeria as a state lacks proper waste management and this has affected all aspects of the health of it's citizens. I've observed severally during my early morning exercise by 5am that those saddled with the responsibility to keep the roads clean are of the habit to pour the sand on the road into the gutters. What a poor mindset? If this isn't stopped, it'll totally block the drainage systems in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.
Flood and Open Defecation in Nigeria
Just imagine the kind of rain that flooded some parts of Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria on Saturday, I just imagine the washing away of some open defecation site and the health implications on the citizens. Diarrhea and dysentery becomes the order of the day. Dysentery is an inflammation of the intestines accompanied by bloody diarrhoea. Dysentery is most often caused by shigella bacteria (shigellosis) or an amoeba. Dysentery is often spread through contaminated food or water.Source
In October 2019, Nigeria became the number one open defecation nation globally, passing India. It is estimated that 50 million Nigerians (or 10 million households) defecate in the open. How Nigeria overtook India is a matter of serious concern. India has a population of 1.353 billion people and 3.287 million km2 land area, against Nigeria’s 200 million people and 923,769km2 land area. It took seriousness, determination and great efforts for India to improve. Now that Nigeria is where India used to be on this index, it will need do similar things – but even more seriously.
Open defecation is the act of passing excreta in open air locations instead of in hygienic, covered locations. The phenomenon does not just occur in the rural areas of Nigeria but also in the cities, and among the educated class in public tertiary institutions, business and residential areas. Over 47 million Nigerians defecate openly in and on bushes, gutters, sidewalks, motor parks, recreation parks, rivers and streets amongst others. Some efforts have been made over the decades to reduce the cases of open defecation in Nigeria. Regrettably, they remain mainly efforts, with only 14 of 774 local governments in the country free of open defecation.
In 2019, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari signed Executive Order 009 to tackle open defecation. In the same year, Nigeria’s Ministry of Water Resources¸ in collaboration with UNICEF and some other key agencies, launched the initiative tagged ‘Nigeria Open-Defecation-Free By 2025: A National Road Map’ in order to end the inimical practice by 2025. Apart from bringing a negative social stigma to Nigeria, which is touted as the Giant of Africa and the most populous black nation in the world, 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 like diarrhoea (hence leading to untimely deaths).
Also typhoid that's a common sickness in Nigeria will always affect the health of the citizens, most especially that of the children, who plays and put their hands in their mouths and contract these diseases.
Like I pointed out in my last post that the government and the general citizenry has a lot to do to keep Nigeria free from health related cases that's breeded from ineffective waste management mechanisms. These measures are very important:
- constant use of disinfectants in our home to reduce the lifespan of bacteria contracted from stagnant waters and dirty environment.
- steady cleaning of the gutters at least twice every week and constant fumigation of the gutters.
- provision of free healthcare facilities for the citizens to know their health status at least once every month. Once isn't enough but, half bread is better than none.
- create committees to monitor the sanitation and hygiene of the people and place sanctions, which includes fines to encourage adherence.
- promote constant awareness in the rural areas on the implications of open defecation and poor waste management attitude.
I conclude by saying that the dry season is fast approaching, which is the best time for the government to strategy's on how the issue of flooding will be tackled in the states of the federation. I pray that rain that fell in the days of Noah doesn't fall in Nigeria, because there'll be no ark to secure Nigeria. Do the needful to help protect the world from climate change and ozon depletion.
