FEATURE
By Onwa Ekor
One beautiful Thursday morning, 53-year-old Ma Nkoyo Edem left her home immediately after breakfast en route the market shop where she sells foodstuffs. Her wares include Okro, crayfish, bush mango ( Ogbonno), pepper, melon, and other such items. Perhaps the joy of the previous day’s gain from sales was the driving force behind her leaving home early on this day, in a bid to catch up with morning sales at the popular community market.
A few hours after displaying her items of trade and playing host to a pocketful of early customers who thronged in to patronise her, the elderly woman became visibly uneasy, a development which was followed by a frown and silent grumbling on what the day was turning out to be.
What changed the euphoria she had earlier exhibited during sales that morning was not connected to the rate of patronage, which was satisfactory in any case, neither was it on account of being shortchanged by the patronage from her customers. She had developed some rumblings in her stomach, making it imperative that she visits the toilet as soon as possible.
Ma Edem tried as much as possible to see if keeping herself busy with Christian choruses would help redeem her from the beckoning hands of the latrine, considering the non availability of an improved toilet facility in the market area.
Various thought came to her mind. Should she run to the sorrounding bushes for open defecation considering her immediate need for the discharge of the contents of her rumbling stomach? But then, she recalled what she had heard about open defecation not only contaminating the soil and water channels as rain washes faeces into wells and rivers, but also making it easy for flies to carry germs to food, thereby creating the faecal-oral disease pathway responsible for diarrhoea and cholera, both deadly diseases if not handled appropriately and on time.
Her mind went to the ‘clean water’ she took this morning before stepping out of her home. Could the rumbling in her stomach have emanated from that source? She confidently tagged the water as ignorant of what she was facing, forgetting that ‘Clean water is not always safe as bacteria are invisible.’
Again, she never considered the fact that “problems can occur anywhere along the water supply chain, as a borehole may be safe but storage container contamination still causes disease.”
Maybe she equally needed to be reminded that hand washing with soap and water at critical times prevents disease transmission, hence these important moments should be taken seriously – after using the toilet, after cleaning up a child who defecated, before cooking, before eating, and before feeding a child.
The thought of running to the compound of Elder Atim Essien who shares a fence with the market in order to defecate, came to her mind but she quickly discarded it, concluding that Essien, a mere fisherman, cannot afford an expensive toilet like that of her Professor of Engineering son in whose house she lives.
Again, Edem forgot so soon that “there is no universal best toilet as the correct technology depends on water availability, soil conditions, affordability and cultural acceptance.” No wonder it is said that, “a simple toilet people use daily is safer than an expensive one people avoid.”
This scenario, and many other Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) related challenges are what people and the polity face today, necessitating the need for a reinforced WASH best practice if cholera, diarrhoea and typhoid must be prevented, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No 6 improved upon, child survival and education including environmental protection are considered, among others.
Recently, a team of WASH Media Network journalists, riding on the shoulders of Self Help Africa (SHA), in collaboration with other in-country technical partners such as NEWSAN, Toilet Pride Initiative and BudgIT for the implementation of Wash Systems For Health (WS4H) programme across Cross River and Kano in Nigeria, after a refresher training session in Calabar, the Cross River capital, embarked on a tour of Akpap Okoyong community in Akamkpa Ward of Odukpani local government area.
The four year programme focusing on strengthening systems to establish reliable, resilient and inclusive WASH Services in Nigeria and Sierra Leone, is also supported by global technical partners including the Sanitation Learning Hub, Bristol University, as well as Social Finance and Population Services International.
WASH represents safe and reliable drinking water services, safe management of human waste and behaviours that protect health. It is also viewed in respect of three basic services (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) that protect people from diseases, allowing communities to live healthy and productive lives. A default in any of the WASH component can conveniently lead to a break in the entire health system.
During the tour, the team accosted challenges of WASH interventions emanating from non functional water points, behaviourial change, sanitation and hygiene, as well as the lack of sustainable impact resulting from systemic failure.
The Akpap Okoyong water facility built by the Ministry of Water Resources with support from EU WSSR, through the then Small Town Units (now upgraded to a department) at over N50m between 2007 and 2011, was designed to serve the people for 25 years but suffered deficiency due to unyielding behavioural change as the equipment were pilfered, subjecting the people to a near lack of safe water experience.
At the community market, a toilet facility was built alongside the water source but due to the unavailability of water, the facility has suffered decay. Fecal matter dotted the area, with a horde of flies appearing as though summoned for an important community meeting, and an unpleasant smell. The facility is also surrounded by bushes, making it a natural toilet option for the people.
Victoria James and Affiong Etim, petty traders in the market, revealed that the non availability of water in the toilet facility has subjected them to patronizing the houses of close neighbours around the market, a decision most hosts reluctantly and grudgingly accept, considering the lack of water for their own immediate family use, not to talk of extending it to others.
The situation at the PCN Primary School, Akpap Okoyong was different as this reporter saw a motorised borehole constructed by UBEC/SUBEB in its 2024 intervention project. A teacher, Helen Edet, explained that the school has an improved toilet, with each classroom block having buckets and disinfectants, even as the pupils use running water to clean up after using the toilet.
The tour took the WASH media practitioners to Primary Health Centre, Akpap Okoyong where Mary Eyo, the Ward focal person and officer in charge of the facility, guided her guests on a tour of the facility. There exists a water source implemented by Cross River RUWATSSA consisting of two toilets for male and female staff, as well as another two for male and female patients. A closer check round the facility revealed that the borehole has not been channelled into the lavatories, proving constraints as users are compelled to get water from the source for faecal sludge management.
Eyo used the opportunity of the tour to appeal for a solar panel to tackle the challenges faced.
Reacting at the Akpap Okoyong water facility, the Head of Department, WASH Services Regulation, Ministry of Water Resources, Calabar, Felix Irek, said the facility was designed with reticulated pipes connected to water kiosks strategically located round the community to ensure that every community member gets access, while offering them short distances to the nearest source of water for at least 25 years.
“So much money was put in the facility, worth over N50m as at then, with eight boreholes drilled to supply water to the tank which is behind the ground tank to channel water to the elevated tank that will be distributed through gravity to all the water kiosks.
“The water was properly treated and checked before it was distributed,” Irek disclosed, adding that, “for management purpose, it was designed in such a way that the community getting the water pay a little and affordable token to enable the facility caretaker procure fuel to power the generator that will always pump water for them.”
He lamented that with all these efforts aimed at offering the people good and safe water, the facility was reduced to a ghost town as the generator powering the eight different pumps suffered terrible vandalization, the boreholes blocked with earth and other materials, amidst a bushy environment.
For the village head of Akpap Okoyong, Obon Obo Effiom Obo, the community is pained by the activities of vandals at the facility, a development which has spurred his administration to put in place modalities for protecting community equipment.
The royal father who appealed for government and relevant authorities to come to the aid of the community, also admitted that the lack of water could be the reason why community members embark on open defecation, a system that negatively impacts on humans and pollutes the environment.
The Chief Whip of Odukpani legislative council and councillor representing Akamkpa Ward, Hon Okon Edem Okon, affirmed that the water facility was vandalised five years ago, subjecting the people to untold hardship and vulnerability to epidemic. Applauding Barr Ekpenyong Akiba, Special Adviser, General Duties for offering community members safe water freely, Okon appealed to government for a water source to keep the people away from sourcing water from far away streams that are not even safe for use.
This plea from the councillor is a reminder that the distance to water determines hygiene behaviour because when water is far, people reduce bathing and hand washing, even as more children tend to fall sick.
Commissioner for Water Resources, Barr Bassey Mensah, commended the WASH Media Network team for its activities in the state, even as he frowned at the activities of vandals and scrap dealers who collaborate to thwart the efforts of government and relevant partners.
“When you look at the amount of money the World Bank, in partnership with the state government sunk into that project, there is no reason for vandalization and we have to condemn it.
“European Union saw the need that our state should not lack water, they came and tried to help out but what is the result today? We vandalised the equipment,” Mensah lamented.
On the way forward, the commissioner disclosed that he had earlier gone round the over 31 water schemes in the state, assuring that a memo would be sent to the governor, Prince Bassey Otu, who has a listening ear to ensure that the faulty water sources are rectified.
From the foregoing, it becomes imperative to realise that hospitals treat sicknesses but WASH prevents it. Therefore, every cholera, diarrhoea and typhoid outbreak is a WASH systemic challenge before it becomes a health failure. If all hands are on deck to tackle the challenge, the result will be a win-win situation across board.
