Assessment of Public Lavatories in Akure, Nigeria

Abstract

Globally, at least 2.6 billion people lack access to improved sanitation, and 437 million ofthem live in sub-Saharan Africa (WHO, 2004, Niwagba, 2007). It is equally estimated that about 1 billion people still defecate in the open. When people lived in small groups as hunters and gatherers, environment naturally decomposes their refuse and human wastes. Waste disposal became an important concern as societies moved from nomadic cultures to concentrate settlements. This is because of the low carrying capacity of the environment to handle it. Safe and hygienic disposal of human wastes is an increasing problem in most cities in Nigeria, as it is in most developing countries. Improper, unsafe and unhygienic disposal of human excreta has a direct relation to environmental quality (Pathak, 1991). Leading to high mortality, morbidity and decreasing community health, sanitation and productivity. The combined effects of rural-urban migration and congregation of urban poor have led to overstretching of water and sanitation facilities. The local government, which is saddled with the oversight on sanitation is not financially sustained and is bedeviled with resource constraint, leading to rapid deterioration in quality of life and community health. The situation will be further aggravated if urgent steps are not put in place to improve sanitation through people‟s participation, inter-sectoral co-ordination, innovative and appropriate technology for the management of human waste.