By Sarah NEGEDU
The Federal Capital Territory Administration’s target of making Abuja Open Defecation Free, ODF, is being undermined by a shortage of public toilet facilities, as new figures shows that open defecation remains widespread across area councils.
Recent findings by the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH, unit in Bwari Area Council revealed that more than 18 percent of communities in the council still practice open defecation.
Coordinator of the unit, Mr. William Kolo, who disclosed this while reviewing action points at the 2025 WASH Coordination Forum in Abuja, said the findings followed a needs assessment carried out in 84 of the council’s 256 communities to identify critical gaps.
According to him, “Our findings show that 18 per cent of the 84 communities visited still practice open defecation due to lack of access to toilet facilities.”
Chairman of Bwari Area Council, Mr. John Gabaya, who was represented at the event by the Head of Administration, Mr. Musa Isa, commended the WASH unit for its efforts but acknowledged that more work was needed to address the problem.
The development comes against the backdrop of Nigeria’s national campaign to end open defecation. The country had set a 2025 target through the “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet” initiative, but the goal has already been missed, with UNICEF and the Federal Ministry of Water Resources estimating that 46 million Nigerians still defecate in the open, the highest figure in Africa.
Despite previous announcements by the FCTA on the construction of dozens of public toilets across the city, many residents say facilities are either inadequate, locked, or poorly maintained.
Also, the weak enforcement of building codes, which require markets, plazas and motor parks to provide public conveniences, has also worsened the situation.
For instance, in Byazhin, Kubwa, a resident, Olajumoke Adeyinka, complained that shop owners do not make their toilets available to customers. “Some shop owners don’t make their facilities available for clients, forcing people to resort to open spaces,” she said.
In Nyanya, Mr. Patrick Adebayo observed that many school children resort to bushes and uncompleted buildings due to lack of toilets in schools.
He said where facilities exist, they are unkempt and overstretched, making it difficult to maintain and discouraging the public from using them
For Mr. Aliyu Mustapha, a resident of Gidan Mangoro near Karu, the impact is already visible in rising health cases. “This practice is causing harm, especially to our children. If we can get more toilets and environmental workers to educate our people, it will help a lot,” he said.
Healthcare workers have also raised concerns about the spread of preventable diseases. For instance, a health officer in Karu, Jamila Ogba, warned that cholera and dysentery were being fuelled by poor sanitation.
She said flies from open faeces transfer germs to food and water, causing cholera and dysentery, which she said are some of the common diseases treated regularly in hospital across the FCT.
Beyond health concerns, residents say safety is another issue, especially for women. At Garki modern market, a trader who gave her name as Maryam said many women are left with no choice late in the evening. “When we close late, there is no functioning toilet nearby, so women sneak behind dark corners. It’s risky, but what choice do we have?” she said.
The contradiction between government claims and realities on the ground has heightened calls for accountability. In 2023, officials said 91 public toilets had been constructed across the FCT, but residents insist that the facilities available are too few and often unusable.
Experts say Abuja’s failure to provide adequate sanitation facilities undermines the credibility of Nigeria’s ODF campaign.
Findings from the 2021 WASHNORM survey by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and the National Bureau of Statistics pointed to poor maintenance, weak financing, and lack of community ownership as obstacles to progress.
