In a striking revelation, recent data shows that Nigeria’s ambitious goal to end open defecation by 2025 has fallen significantly short, with the practice still prevalent among 46 million Nigerians as of 2026. This represents a mere one million reduction from the 47 million recorded when former President Muhammadu Buhari signed Executive Order 009 in 2019.
President Bola Tinubu’s administration has consequently revised the timeline, setting a new target of 2030 for Nigeria to become open defecation-free. Public health experts and environmental advocates are divided on whether this extended deadline is achievable, though several emerging factors offer grounds for cautious optimism.
The landmark Supreme Court judgment of July 11, 2024, which affirmed financial autonomy for Nigeria’s 774 local government councils, stands as a potential game-changer. With newfound fiscal independence, these grassroots administrative units can now strengthen water governance structures the systems controlling decision-making on water management and service delivery and make strategic investments in sanitation infrastructure.
Local governments are now positioned to develop sustainable financial instruments for constructing and maintaining public toilets and associated water systems. Properly structured financial planning could transform these initiatives into vehicles for job creation and social enterprise through mechanisms like microfinance access and credit control.
A critical advantage of local government autonomy is the capacity to employ professional environmental health officers. These specialists, formerly known as sanitary inspectors during the colonial era, were once feared more than police officers for their strict enforcement of sanitation regulations. Known by various indigenous names ‘wole-wole’ (Yoruba), ‘nwaole-ala’ (Igbo), and ‘duba-gari’ (Hausa) these officers conducted inspections of homes and public spaces to ensure proper sanitary facilities.
Their duties encompassed routine inspections, waste management, pollution control, water sampling, disease prevention, building regulation, pest control, public health law enforcement, food safety, and hygiene education. The profession was renamed in 1988 to align with international standards and accommodate university graduates in public health, environmental health, and epidemiology.
Despite these positive developments, analysts emphasize that political will at the highest level remains the most crucial factor. There are growing calls for President Tinubu to declare a state of emergency in the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) sector, with significant financial commitments. Such a declaration would need to include nationwide recruitment of environmental health officers at all government levels and substantial budgetary allocations for constructing household and community toilets.
Nigeria’s open defecation challenge can draw instructive lessons from India’s experience. Once bearing the unwanted title of “open defecation capital of the world” a status Nigeria inherited in 2019 India implemented decisive measures through its “Swachh Bharat Mission” (Clean India Mission) under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
The Indian government invested approximately $20 billion to construct 100 million toilets in rural areas over five years. They deployed half a million community mobilizers, called Swachhagrahis, to villages and districts nationwide. The results were remarkable: toilet construction accelerated from 4.5 million between October 2014 and October 2017 to 9.12 million by December 2018. By the end of 2018, 539,000 villages, 580 districts, and 27 states had achieved open defecation-free status.
According to UNICEF estimates, Nigeria needs approximately 20 million toilets to eliminate open defecation by 2030, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. Currently, only 135 of Nigeria’s local governments have attained open defecation-free status since 2019.
Public health advocates contend that President Tinubu has both the financial resources and executive authority to transform Nigeria’s sanitation landscape. With proper investment and political determination, they believe Nigeria could achieve 90 percent rural sanitation coverage within five years, making the 2030 target not just aspirational but attainable.
