World Toilet Day: Nigeria ranked worst in west Africa for urban sanitation

Environmental agency, WaterAid Nigeria has made a shocking revelation that 58 million of 700 million urban dwellers around the world living without basic sanitation are Nigerians.

It also revealed that 13.5 million people living in Nigeria’s towns and cities have no choice but to defecate in the open using roadsides, railway tracks and even plastic bags dubbed ‘flying toilets.’

Therefore, to mark the World Toilet Day, which was held on Saturday, November 19, WaterAid Nigeria has called on government to keep its promise to deliver universal access to sanitation, following the release of new analysis showing it ranks third in the world and worst in Sub-Saharan Africa for having the most urban-dwellers living without a safe, private toilet.

During his remarks, WaterAid Nigeria Country Director, Dr Michael Ojo, said that “Our analysis shows just how many nations in the world are failing to give sanitation the political prioritisation and financing required, with Nigeria featuring strongly at the top of that list.

“WaterAid’s Overflowing Cities: The State of the World Toilets report looks at the problem of urban sanitation and the health threats to our world, as the UN predicts by 2050, two-thirds of the global population will live in towns and cities. Nigeria too has a huge population and extremely rapid rural–urban migration; however, economic development and urban planning have not kept pace with the sheer volumes of people arriving – and being born – every day in its towns and cities.