Inside Nigerian University Where Students Suffer Over Poor Toilets Sanitation And Water Scarcity 

One Monday evening, Mercy Omotosho, a 300-level student of the University of Ilorin, had gone to campus for a 2-hour lecture scheduled between 4:00 P.M. and 6: 00 PM. 

A few minutes before the lecture commenced, she felt the need to empty her bowels of the urine she had been holding for a while. So, Omotosho stepped out of the three-storey edifice that housed her faculty to ease herself in the bush before her lecturer’s arrival. 

The event later turned out to be one of her bitter experiences as an undergraduate at the university. 

By her own account, she was dressing herself up after urinating when she saw some men passing the route. In a bid to protect her dignity, she tried hiding and in the process, she accidentally made contact with the Mucuna pruriens (Werepe according to Yoruba culture).

The leaves cause itching when they come in contact with the skin, leading to intense irritation and sometimes troublesome injury including allergies and severe swelling. The orange “hairs” of flowers and pods of Mucuna pruriens contain chemicals (including serotonin) which can spread the itching to other areas touched. For these reasons, Omotosho refers to the leaf as ‘evil leaf.’

While she took off some of her clothing on the spot to allow fresh air, the itching continued. 

“I ran home, not that I even walked. The itching was much. I just felt like stripping,” she told CAMPUS REPORTER. She later contacted her cousin who advised her to rub some palm oil on her skin until the pain gradually subsided hours after she got back home. 

Omotosho’s experience reflects one of the many dangers that members of the University of Ilorin community face due to the lack of access to hygienic toilet facilities. This isn’t because there are no toilet facilities but due to lack of water supply in these facilities. 

As of the time of filing this report, CAMPUS REPORTER observed that the Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences (CIS) where Omotosho had a bitter experience has only one functional toilet for students’ use and the facility was in a deplorable condition.

Speaking about the poor condition of the toilet when he used it on an occasion when he had no alternative, another student of the Faculty, Lekan Gbadebo, said: “The smell took my breath off when I had to ease myself in one of the toilets because I was really pressed. Since then, I usually leave the faculty and go back to my hostel whenever I am pressed.”

The exact situation at the CIS was what our reporters observed at different toilets on the university’s walkway. The walkway has 10 blocks, housing  different laboratories, lecture rooms and lecture theatres. While each of these blocks has a toilet facility for students, the toilets were left unflushed and smelly due to lack of water supply. 

‘Not our faults’ – Officials

A maintenance official who pleaded anonymity, because he was not authorised to speak about the deplorable state of the facilities explained that many toilets are under lock due to water scarcity. 

He noted that they usually pumped water to tanks but “no pipes to connect the water to the toilet facilities.” 

The official corroborates our findings that students often resort to using the bush despite physical risk. In fact, he cited an instance where a female student had to call for help after sighting a snake in the bush.

On his part, Joshua Popoola, a Director General at Human Kinetics Department of the Faculty of Education, explained that while the toilets in his Faculty usually look clean in the morning after they have been washed, they are met in an awful state in the evening after students’ use. 

He also attributed this to the inconsistent supply of water in the toilet facilities. 

“There are times when there won’t be water. Instead of getting water from the tanks downstairs before using the toilets, they (students) use the toilets and leave.”

‘What we’re doing to address the situation’ – Students’ union

The Health Committee Chairman at the Students Representative Council (SRC) of the Students Union, Muslim Olatunde, in an interview with CAMPUS REPORTER said the complaints about the poor state of the toilet facilities in the university has been raised on several occasions. 

He, thereafter, promised to follow up with the leadership of the union to ensure that proper actions are taken to address the issue of water scarcity in the toilets. 

Meanwhile, the Senate President of the SRC, Opeyemi Azeez, said he, alongside other representatives, have visited the toilets, especially those at the walkway and sent their reports to the school authority. 

“The school authority is always telling us that they’ll get back to us.”

While efforts by CAMPUS REPORTER to get the official reaction of the university’s management on actions in place to address the students’ plights, a top official who asked not to be quoted because he was not authorised to speak blamed students for the poor state of the toilets. 

He, however, did not respond to questions concerning efforts by the school to address the menace.

Health implications 

A resident doctor at the General Hospital, Ilorin, Oluwayomi Olanrewaju, described unsanitary toilet facilities as breeding grounds for infection and infective organisms. 

He explained that bad toilets breed air pollution that can lead to vomiting and irritability on the part of the victim.

Infographics

The doctor added that students are also prone to contracting diseases when they hold their urine for too long. 

“It might cause something called inconsistence. This is a process whereby the person can no longer hold urine or defecate as they grow older. 

“Secondly, these toxic substances may diffuse back through the body to cause different kinds of effects on the body, especially the brain. It’s worse on the brain. It can cause Encephalopathy which is a very dangerous illness.” 

According to a 2021 Water Sanitation and Hygiene National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASHNORM) survey by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and the National Bureau of Statistics, only 46% of Nigerians use basic sanitation services while 48 million still practise open defecation. 

Also, Nigeria is currently battling a cholera outbreak. The disease mostly spreads through direct transmission by eating or drinking contaminated food or water, and indirect transmission due to poor sanitation and lack of handwashing.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) warned Nigerians to be more conscious as severe cases may lead to death within hours due to dehydration.

While cholera can be prevented by ensuring access to safe water and proper sanitation, Nigeria tertiary institutions have the habit of improper waste disposal, a development that has become a pressing environmental challenge faced on different campuses across the country.

Earlier, CAMPUS REPORTER reported how the Federal University of Kashere in Gombe State equally has unhygienic toilet facilities. In addition, a 2021 report by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) revealed how many undergraduates struggle using the messy toilets in  Ahmadu Bello University Zaria (ABU), Usman Danfodio University Sokoto (UDUS), Bayero University Kano (BUK), Federal University Dutsinma Katsina (FUDMA) and many others.

This story was funded by the Campus Reporter project of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) and written by students of the University of Ilorin after Campus Reporter’s 42nd campus journalism clinic held in their institution:

1. Stella Adeniyi

2. Fatiha Kuti

3. Abolarin Abisola

4. ⁠Tawa Olaitan 

5. Kayode Damilola

6. Faith David

7. ⁠Fathia Olasunkanmi

8. Mahfuz Alaiye

9. Anuoluwapo Olanrewaju

10. Ifejola Oladipo

11. Maryam Abdullahi