For anyone coming into Ogun and Lagos or leaving both cities through Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, one thing is very common to see especially- the sorry state of the highway median.
This time, it is not because of the quality of work on the major highway into Nigeria’s commercial capital but what the median has suddenly become.
It is very pathetic one indeed! It is looming health risk and an environmental shame caused by human beings who have turned the median into comfort zones for open defecation, leading to health and environmental concerns.
What is open defecation? It is a condition where human faeces are disposed of in fields, forests, open bodies of water, beaches or other open spaces or disposed with solid waste. In this case it is happen inside the highway median. These faeces are later flushed by rain flood into the river which overflows into nearby homes with its health risks.
Economically, Ogun State is a major industrial hub with a growing base of factories and companies, especially along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway corridor.
Likewise, Lagos State is the economic powerhouse and commercial capital of Nigeria, home to its largest city and a major financial hub.
Open defecation is a significant problem in Ogun and Lagos, driven by a lack of accessible and affordable toilet facilities, especially in motor parks, slums, and other public spaces.
This practice poses serious health risks, leading to the spread of diseases like cholera and typhoid, and also degrades the environment.
While the Lagos State government is addressing this issue through a multi-pronged approach including constructing new public toilets, implementing enforcement measures, and conducting public awareness campaigns, the risk has shifted to Ogun where the menace of open defecation happens uninterrupted.
Every vigilant commuter knows that this act of open defecation happens 24 hours along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, particularly from popular Berger bus stop median to OPIC U-turn and beyond. Before Lagos action against open defecation on this axis, the significance of the problem along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was evident in a 7.8 km stretch reportedly affected.