Toilet epidemic: UNILAG, YABATECH students opt for potty, shot put

Following the incident at Queen’s College, Lagos, which led to the death of two students, there has been growing concern about hygiene and sanitation in schools at all levels. SHOLA ADEKOLA, NAZA OKOLI and TOLA ADENUBI took a peep into the ugly situation.

There is a plastic bucket that female undergraduates often buy. It is the smallest size. One can think of a hundred reasons why a student would have this bucket in her hostel room. Food items, jewellery, grains, water, and make-up kits are some of the many possibilities that quickly come to mind. Yet, in many cases, those are far from the actual reason.

“We called it ‘pee-bucket’, during my days in school,” said Funmi who graduated from the University of Lagos some years ago. “But actually it was both for the pee and the poo. The thing is that there was a time that power and water supply was so bad that all the toilets were terrible. We bought it to avoid getting infections. Early in the morning we would take the bucket to the toilet, use it and then pour the stuff into the dirty toilet. Then we would wash it very well with disinfectant. You would never know what it was u sed for unless you were told. In fact, there was a day someone came to my room and took it to fetch water. She didn’t ask me. She just returned the bucket after using the water. I did not know how to tell her.”
Our story –Students

However, many of the students who spoke with Saturday Tribune last week said there had been some improvement in the supply of water in their toilets and elsewhere for some time. They, however, complained that a rationing policy introduced by the management had led to a situation where there was little or no water in the day and plenty of it at night.

“I live in Kofo Hall,” a final year female student who did not wish to be named said. “We have power and we have light. The only problem is that there is no power during the day. And most times when there is no power, there is no water. The time is 6.00 p.m. to about 8.00 a.m. That’s when there is water and light. So, if you go to the hostel during the daytime, you will find out that the toilets would smell.”

These complaints, it would seem, are not limited to the hostels alone. A few postgraduate students who spoke with Saturday Tribune said evening students and part-time postgraduate students at the Faculty of Social Sciences often do not find “useable toilets” at the faculty. Many of them, it was learnt, visit privately managed toilets located in cafeterias around the area, instead. The brave guys simply go for shot put, which is excreting in a piece of a disused paper and then flinging into the nearest bush. It may sound stone-age but findings show it is a saving grace from toilet epidemic ravaging institutions in the state, both private and public.

Although there are cleaners who work tirelessly to ensure the toilets remain clean for ease of use by students, the closing time for most of these cleaners, it was gathered, does not favour many of the part-time students who begin their lectures around 6.00 p.m. every weekday.

For Eniola Fadairo, a Masters student of Public and International Affairs (MPIA), “visiting the toilets anytime from 6.00 p.m. is like accepting to take home infections and diseases of all sorts.”

She said she found it more convenient to use the toilets at her place of work before coming for her evening classes.

“I close at work by 5.00 p.m. and get to school some minutes to 6.00 p.m. or at most after 6.00 p.m. if there is serious traffic on the road. However, I ensure I force myself to use the toilets at work every day because of the state of the toilets at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

“My department does not have its own toilets, so we make do with the faculty toilets. But it is always an eyesore, maybe due to the fact that the cleaners are gone by then. I don’t know what the toilets look like during the day because I hardly come to school by that time. But in the evening, they are nothing to write home about. As a married woman, I can’t afford that because I might spread infections to my loved ones.

“I think it’s time the school authorities employed cleaners who run shift schedules. We pay more than the regular students and should enjoy more in terms of services. The toilets are so dirty and there is hardly anybody to complain to.”

Interestingly, some students said the toilets would be cleaner if all students would learn to use them properly.

“We have cleaners who wash the toilets in the morning every day, but no matter how much they wash the toilets in the morning, the whole place always gets messed up before afternoon.  They only wash the toilets in the morning. By evening, the whole place is messy and very dirty because the cleaners won’t come back until the next morning.”

UNILAG reacts

Reacting to these issues, however, the university’s Deputy Registrar (Information), Mr Toyin Adebule, said while it is true that there isn’t power supply in the hostels during the day, there is constant supply of water at all units.

“That is a complete distortion of fact. In UNILAG, we have power in the various departments, laboratories, library and administrative units during the day and we sleep with electricity, while water runs for 24 hours. If you visit the halls of residence, there is provision for boreholes powered by generating sets in case of emergency. I am sure you spoke with mischievous people. Please, do not be deceived, we also have some people on campus who are not students,” Adebule said.

…YABATECH too

The situation is not different at Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) where many of the students who spoke with Saturday Tribune recounted similar experiences.

The students who are currently on break also regretted that their union which used to be their “mouthpiece” has remained suspended for more than two years now.

An HND student who did not wish to be named said: “There are many problems in our school, especially in the area of clean water supply and in the toilets. We are even tired of complaining because they won’t do anything about it. Some of the toilet pipes have even broken. Close to the office of the Dean of Students Affairs, there is a hostel called Complex. There, you would see the septic tank that is underground, and you see the toilet pipes there. Power supply is so poor, and there is always water scarcity.”

Students always have water —Authorities

However, discrediting the students’ claims, the Public Relations Officer of the college, Mr Charles Oni, said students had been calling him to ask when school would resume. He wondered why they were in a hurry to return if truly conditions on campus were so intolerable.

He said: “School is not in session, yet many of them are itching to come back. If it is correct that there is no water, then why are they in a hurry to come back? They have been calling me to ask when they would be resuming. They have only been at home for about a week.

“Human needs are insatiable. That is just the truth. But as for water, they always have water. Even where there is no water, we have tankers that regularly bring water. So, I don’t know the issue that they have. If they say that the number of toilets is not sufficient, then that is different. But the problem is that even when the toilets are adequate, some people would want to lock up some toilets. We do appeal to them from time to time to leave the toilets open.”

He also said the college has won a number of awards in recognition of its effort to keep its environment healthy.

“Every year, we win the best Environment Award from the Lagos State government, and when they want to do their assessment, they do it discreetly. So, if we have been winning all those awards, then what are the students saying? What happened at Queen’s College is very unfortunate, and it has served as an eye-opener to other administrations, showing that there is every need to take care of the students.”

Private hostels to the rescue

Indeed, it was gathered that parents and students are increasingly beginning to consider private hostels and ordinary apartments where the students would be able to control all the factors around them.

A parent whose daughter attends the University of Lagos told Saturday Tribune that he was forced to secure a one-room apartment for her at Yaba owing to what he called the poor state of the toilet facilities there.

According to him, the need for him to rent a room for the student became obvious as she was always complaining of infections which the family doctor traced to poor toilet facilities.

“To put an end to the regular discomfort confronting our daughter, I decided to pull her out of the school hostel by renting a room for her where she will have access to clean toilet and since then, we have not heard of such complaints.”

Many parents whose children live off campus in Lagos have identified poor sanitary standards in the schools to be responsible for their decision.

They, however, lamented the failure of the school authorities to bring such facilities up to standard despite the exorbitant fees they charged. They also appealed to the relevant authorities to correct the situation which they said only exposes the students to health hazards such as infections.

Secondary schools also afflicted

Understandably, there have been a lot of efforts at the lower levels to address some of these challenges, especially following the incident at Queen’s College. However, findings by Saturday Tribune indicate a similar scenario in many secondary schools in the state.

An SS3 student at Ikorodu High School, a mixed, day school, said: “We have two different schools in one, the junior school and the senior school. But to be frank, in the senior school, we have no source of drinking water. The tap we have doesn’t work anymore. It used to have odour and some particles inside, and some students used to drink it. But right now, that tap no longer works. The only water now is the one in the toilet. I don’t think students drink from it. But we use if for cleanup.”

Only last week, Lagos lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), donated a water purification system to the Lagos State Model College, Igbonla, at a ceremony attended by a representative of the deputy governor, Dr Idiat Adebule.

Falana said nearly 1,000 children die each day due to preventable water and sanitation-related diseases. According to him, 40 per cent of such cases are attributable to the school environment.

“While many clean water initiatives globally are focused on increasing access to safe water, there are billions of people around the world who have access to piped water or an improved source such as borehole or covered spring but whose water is undeniably unsafe for human consumption,” Falana said.