From bush to toilet: Relief for Oyo villagers after 183 years of open defecation

Jago villagers in Oyo State are delighted that after 183 years of existence, they now have a dignified means of defecation through the installation of Sato Pan toilets but Olufon village does not have any toilet. However, a handful of Jago villagers with toilets struggle to keep up with the monthly repayment of the installation costs they received as loan, writes GRACE EDEMA.

Adeola Rasaki, 17, moved swiftly into a bush near her hut to defecate before going to school that early Wednesday morning in October.

Rasaki, who lives in Olufon village, is a Senior Secondary One student at Jago Secondary School, located in a nearby village called Jago in the Ona-Ara Local Government Area of Oyo State.

As soon as she found a safe place to relieve herself, Rasaki suddenly saw a snake on that spot. Sensing the presence of a human, the reptile quietly crawled away. However, Rasaki immediately lost the urge to relieve herself.

Coincidentally, later that day, our correspondent visited Jago village where Rasaki’s school is located, and she narrated her experience from that morning.

However, she was able to defecate safely and comfortably in a Sato Pan Toilet, which was recently constructed in her friend’s house in Jago village.

Rasaki, who was among the cultural troupe singing and dancing to welcome some United Nations Children’s Fund representatives visiting the village to celebrate the installation of Sato Pan toilets, looked sad despite the festivities.

Her near-death experience is common among residents of the Ona-Ara Local Government Area, Oyo State, where Olufon and Jago are part of the villages.

A young tailor, Alao Adisa, in Olufon village, sitting in a ramshackle shed, told our correspondent that he had never seen a toilet in his 35 years of existence.

“We don’t have toilets here at all. We always have to defecate in the bushes. We hope the government will remember us one day and fund toilets for us or provide a public toilet where we can go. All my friends and relatives who got the Sato pan in Jago Village are struggling to pay for it. If the government could provide us with toilets, it would be a great help.”

Meanwhile, The PUNCH gathered that there had been a cholera outbreak in the community due to open defecation. There were also many stories of people being bitten by snakes and others falling into wells and ditches while trying to defecate openly in bushes or spaces around them.

Although the crowd danced rhythmically to the cultural songs sung by Rasaki and her mates from Jago Secondary School, located directly opposite the village head’s house, the reality of their inability to repay the loan they took from a microfinance bank for the construction of the toilets was apparent upon closer observation.

For these villagers, constructing the Sato Pan toilets was the first dignified means of defecation, marking an end to open defecation and its associated health implications.

The village head, also known as Baale, Chief Olusegun Oparinde, revealed that Jago Village, established in 1840, had its first decent toilet in 2023.

A Sato Pan toilet consists of a pan with a base and a comfortable sitting part attached to a slightly raised concrete platform made of building blocks. The ones installed in some houses in Jago are blue, with a V-shaped opening and a cover at the narrow end to guard against smell.

A Sato Pan was constructed at the cost of N70,000 each as of October 2023, both for the purchase of the pan and installation.

Being peasant farmers and petty traders, they all complained about their inability to meet their debts.

Looking dejected in her hut in Jago Village, Agnes Faju said, “Yes, we now have the toilet, but paying for it is the problem. I am 58 years old. I sell locust beans and some little things, and from there, I buy food for myself and the children living with me. I called a family member in Lagos who only gave me N5,000. I still owe N65,000. Is there any way the government can help us? Please tell the government to assist us in paying and provide toilets for other houses.”

Jago before Sato Pan toilet

Jago village, a sleepy community about an hour’s drive from Ibadan city, is home to peasant farmers and petty traders.

In the absence of proper toilets, Jago villagers resorted to ‘short put’, local parlance for open defecation. If they did not go into the bush to answer the call of nature, they defecated in nylon bags or paper and threw them into the bush.

Jago villagers in Oyo State are delighted that after 183 years of existence, they now have a dignified means of defecation through the installation of Sato Pan toilets but Olufon village does not have any toilet. However, a handful of Jago villagers with toilets struggle to keep up with the monthly repayment of the installation costs they received as loan

Sweeetheart:
All these Igbo modss even underdeveloped region like southeast can do their toilet not to talk of ancient town like oyo

Thrasher2024:
I thought this thread had hit front page before? Why recycling

Thrasher2024:
I thought this thread had hit front page before? Why recycling

DrFelicia:
That one is different. This one is another village in south West celebrating toilet in 2024.

Thrasher2024:
I thought this thread had hit front page before? Why recycling

AntiChristian:
Ah!

Me sef did short put back then for ******* College Ibadan!