By Gilbert Chigbo

 WE all know how it started. A quick squat, a few grunts, some relief and back about our business. Changes occurred, driven by population increase, urban growth, and other results of development. The changes in the rural areas were not very dramatic.

There continued to be much private land for squatting, villagers who could afford both land and money to put pit latrines in outhouses and a small but increasing number were able to provide modern residences with all conveniences.

The urban areas developed somewhat differently. Lack of space and privacy precluded squatting and the construction of pits, although early history indicated that squatting took place in Roman streets and in the halls and foyers of the Louvre in Paris. We are, however concerned with Nigeria, and we will describe our observations in some of the major cities in the South East and South West.

The authorities over the years have attempted to make improvements in this service. These improvements are not always fully coordinated and the people have had to try and cope as best they can.

The first major improvement was the introduction of the bucket system, but although this helped substantially, it created its own problems. Layouts in newer cities like Port Harcourt, Aba, and Enugu were designed with the need to evacuate human waste in mind, and sanitary lanes were provided in a generally successful attempt to separate the night soil man and his noisome bucket from tenants and their visitors in the city tenements.

This innovation came too late for many old houses in some of our older cities, notably Lagos and Ibadan in Nigeria’s South West. One house with which the author was familiar among the numerous examples in Lagos was located in Gbamgbose Street in Lagos Island. There was no sanitary lane. The night soil man had to enter through the front door, like everyone else, walk through the central corridor, exchanging greetings with those entering or leaving, in order to gain access to the latrine. He often had to wait if a tenant was using the latrine. The combined height of the man and the bucket on his head greatly exceeded the clearance granted by the height of the door frame; hence the man had to lower the bucket as he entered the house and clutch it to his chest like a loved one on his walk to the back yard. He usually had a cloth mask and the bucket had a lid, but these two precautions could not have succeeded in filtering out the smell of the product that was only inches away from his face.

The incident in Port Harcourt was quite different and somewhat tragic. Port Harcourt city planners thought it was important to provide play grounds for children. These play grounds occupied whole city blocks and were used intensively and extensively by children of the area, usually for football. The night soil men plied their trade in daylight, frequently while the children’s games were in progress. There were conflicts, as one would expect. Names were called; the night soil man retaliated by dipping the short palm rib brooms in their product and spraying the closest of his tormentors with it. On occasion, if the ball was kicked high into the air and came close to him, he would run towards it, lift the lid of his bucket and attempt to catch the ball with his bucket. Unfortunately, there were problems:

*The product was heavy and corrosive

*The bucket was not new nor was it strongly built

*The bucket bounced on his head as he ran

The result was that the base of the bucket gave way and his head went in. The base of the bucket did not break cleanly and he could not therefore lift it cleanly as he tried to do. The children heard horrible spluttering sounds emanating from him as he struggled not to breathe or swallow his product. Upending the bucket might have saved him but he continued trying to lift it off until he fell. He is said not to have survived.

Our next example occurred in Ebute Metta, Lagos. The system, was working fairly well, there was no tragic incident, but visitors to a tenant in what was a fairly well-built house for the time (the 1950s) were subject to a rather curious experience if they needed to use the latrine.

First, they had to take off shoes, trousers and underpants in the tenant’s room. Then the tenant loaned them a wrapper to tie carefully round their waists ensuring that the hem ended well above their ankles. Finally the guests had to put on an old pair of slippers that was left permanently in the corridor outside the room. At which time the guests were ready for the great adventure. Once was usually enough.

In the Wild East towns like Onitsha, night soil men frequently emptied their loads on the ground in a quiet part of the town, to save them having to carry this heavy load long distances to the discharge point.

Government made a further attempt to help the populace, by building many public latrines in larger cities. These were fairly well handled. The night soil men did their work; the buckets did not overflow, etc.