Editor’s note: Open defecation is still a problem in Nigeria where large parts of the urban population lack access to sanitation.
As the Ramadan fast ends, journalist, Kolawole Talabi believes it is particularly important that residents of Ibadan and especially adherents of the Islamic faith practise good hygiene to protect themselves from pathogens carried by filth flies that are ubiquitous in dirty surroundings.
June 8, 2016 and in the city of Ibadan, Ramadan is underway. It’s a Wednesday and I had two out-of-office stops: a 75-minute business brunch and a visit to the dentist to remove an impacted molar tooth. At noon, I shared the schedule with my driver and we promptly headed toward the hotel for the first meeting. To save on fuel, I rolled down the windows. In Nigeria’s tropical climate, sweltering heat is a source of daily concern for fair-complexioned people like me.
A Hausa fruit vendor displays freshly cut water melons openly in the Sabo area of Ibadan. Credit: Kolawole Talabi
As the vehicle swerved past a sea of faces in Mokola, one of the busiest districts in Ibadan, I suddenly realised an insect had become trapped underneath my left sleeve. Without giving a second thought to what kind of insect it might be, I squashed it with a deafening slap. Immediately, a fetid stench filled the car. As I rolled up my sleeve to fish out the dead insect, the odour worsened. I would find the remains of a filth fly. Worse still, a brownish speckle had oozed out of the abdomen of the crushed insect too. The foul odour nudged me to further inspect what the mess is. My suspicion was soon confirmed: excreta, possibly of human origin.
Filth flies, Musca sorbens, as the name suggest are associated with dirt. They are closely related to the common housefly, Musca domestica. But unlike houseflies which are found all over the world, filth flies thrive mostly in the tropics. Temperatures between 25 and 45 degrees Celsius favours breeding. For nutrition, filth flies prefer garbage, excreta, including human sweat and tears as well as animal dung. Their feeding taste thus makes them carriers of deadly germs.
These flies begin as tiny eggs which hatch into maggots or larva. Within a few days, the maggots grow rapidly and develop into pupa, the penultimate stage in the fly’s reproductive cycle. Adult flies emerge after about a week or two depending on conditions which includes the availability of food, oftentimes, poop. A gram of poop can hold 10 million viruses, 1 million bacteria, 1,000 parasite cysts and 100 parasite eggs, UNICEF says. In Nigeria, the lack of sanitation in the country’s major population centres puts two-thirds of the people at risk of vector-borne diseases such as typhoid and cholera which these filth flies transmit.
While I could rinse my arm with bottled water, the same cannot be said of 57 million Nigerians who lack access to clean water according to WaterAid Nigeria. For drinking, many Nigerians simply depend on sachet water which costs 10 naira a piece (about 3.5 cents). The standard volume of sachet water is 500 millilitres. Yet for the poor who constitute the bulk of Nigeria’s estimated 180 million people, this is still a bit costly. Take, for example, a Mokola vendor who earns less than $2 a day may use six sachets for drinking during work hours under the hot sun. This is slightly more than 10 percent of his daily income.
But the World Health Organisation (WHO) says an adult requires at least 20 litres of water per day to meet their needs for drinking and cooking. If personal hygiene needs such as bathing, flushing and washing clothes are included, this figure doubles to 40 litres. Even people who depend on boreholes still pay 20 naira per 25-litre keg. How many poor Nigerian households can afford to pay such a price for clean water?
Most of these vendors simply go dehydrated and they become susceptible to heatstroke during the dry season when temperatures can reach 37 degrees Celsius. Worse still, they may opt for alternative supplies from questionable sources i.e. streams. Moreover, if that same vendor were pressed during the course of the day, there are no public toilets to relieve himself. Commercial lavatories cost 20 naira (about 7 cents) per use and most of these facilities don’t even provide soap for handwashing. To save money, the average citizen would simply relieve himself in street corners and streams.
Temitayo Olofinlua, a resident of Ibadan decries the menace of open defecation across the city, citing an example of the Queen’s Cinema pedestrian bridge, some 500 metres away from Mokola. She argues that part of the problem stems from the lack of availability and accessibility to commercial lavatories rather than their affordability. “The image from the last time I tried to use that bridge still haunts me,” she says. “There are hardly any [public toilets] in Ibadan, for instance, as large as the city is. Those things you call commercial lavatories are just cemented patches of land covered in metal sheets.”
Besides weeds and refuse, faeces at different stages of decomposition, litters the pedestrian bridge at Queen’s Cinema in Ibadan. Credit: Kolawole Talabi
Heaps of faeces are among the most important breeding sites for filth flies. “The best way to tackle the problem of filth is advocacy by government,” says Taiwo Adewole, executive director of WasteAid International in Nigeria. “The level of awareness is very poor and a lot needs to be done which the government cannot handle alone. People must also change their attitude toward waste management.”
During Ramadan many Muslims across Nigeria observe the obligatory dawn-to-dusk fasting. As it is customary, the fasting period ends at sundown after which people gather to share meals. The Mokola district, due to its proximity to Sabo — a Hausa enclave whose population is majorly Muslim, teems with people breaking their fast with fruits and vegetables that easily attracts filth flies. In the spirit of brotherhood, these folks share their meals alfresco with family, friends and even passers-by. This cultural practise therefore exposes them to diseases since filth flies do carry germs from plate to plate.
A data visualisation highlights the dismal water and sanitation challenges in Nigeria. Credit: Folarin Babalola
It is ironic that although the Holy Quran impresses upon Muslims that they should maintain cleanliness yet Mokola and its environs is ridden with filth flies due to poor sanitation. “We Muslims are mandated to perform ablutions before the five daily prayers,” says Bolaji Durodola, a medical doctor at the Oni Memorial Children Hospital. “However the undesirable social conditions in which these people live have made hygiene very difficult.”
The bustling roundabout at Mokola is mostly inundated by beggars, vendors, touts and the homeless who have made this particular location a permanent address. It’s not uncommon to see these squatters defecate beneath the bridge. The fly I killed had probably just finished gorging on a fresh meal of faeces before creeping into my sleeve. At the next traffic stop, I rinsed my arm with a bottle of water and when I arrived at the hotel, I dashed into the restroom to clean up properly with soap and water. Thankfully, I had my meeting — free of the stench of faeces but many a people my car sped past had no such luxury.
Kolawole Talabi is an independent journalist who covers environment, science, culture and development topics from Nigeria. He holds a degree in human geography.
This article expresses the authors’ opinion only. The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Naij.com or its editors.
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