By Helen OvbiageleWoman Editor
What! Right up, hundreds of miles in the air! My goodness! Thank God one wasn’t on that flight,” reacted a friend when I showed her an article in a recent Britain’s The Mail On Sunday paper.

The title of the brief, but very alarming piece of news, was ‘BA Caught Short As All Airliner’s Toilets Fail’
Briefly, it said ‘Passengers on a British Airways flight from Heathrow to the Cayman Islands were told not to drink for two hours because none of the plane’s toilets was working.’

It was reported that the plane had 169 passengers and nine crew aboard the Boeing 767 to Grand Cayman via Nassau in the Bahamas.

“That’s a nightmare, isn’t it?” I asked my friend. “What would the elderly and the very young children do in such a situation? While the adults might have been able to control themselves, what about the little children? There must have been a lot of tension up there. If it were land travel, it would be easy for the driver stop, but in the air you’re totally helpless. It’s a hopeless situation that shouldn’t be allowed to happen.”

“You can say that again! Just imagine the scene. You’re up several hundreds of miles above the ground. You’ve been eating and drinking; maybe to ease your fear of flying, maybe to enjoy your time on board. The last thing on your mind would be worrying about where to ease yourself, should you need to. I’ve never heard of a situation where all the toilets in an aircraft packed up and there was nowhere for the passengers to go.

Not even in Nigeria where sanitation is very poor. In our airports, if the toilets are not working, the consolation of the passenger is that he can use the ones on the plane he’s going to take. Thank God we haven’t had that sort of incident here yet. It can be a nightmare, even if it’s a local flight of just one hour.”

“Yes, but how do you know that it hasn’t happened aboard a plane in Nigeria? We may not think it’s news worthy, because sanitation is zero here, anyway. However, one wouldn’t have expected such a thing to happen on a BA flight. One has a lot of regards for that airline. It shows that standards are dropping.”

“True, but the airline apologized, explaining that the toilets were blocked because they had not been serviced at Heathrow, where the tanks should have been emptied.”

“What? A world famous airline like the BA couldn’t supervise the cleaning of its plane to ensure that such an important task was carried out? I can’t believe it.”

“Well, it happened. The tanks were finally emptied at Nassau. The spokesman said if they had known of the situation, they wouldn’t have taken off. Would we feel that concerned here? Would the operator of an airline here delay a flight because the toilets have not been emptied?”

The answer to my friend’s question is a ready ‘No’. With an eye on profits, the operators would brush aside the omission and ask the flight to go ahead as scheduled, reckoning that it would be done when it got to its destination.

No government so far, has been able to handle successfully, the issue of sanitation in the country; particularly that of having enough public toilets around so that citizens don’t have to relieve themselves, just about anywhere when away from their homes.

It’s the responsibility of the government to safeguard the health of its citizens. Public toilets should be built all over the place, even if people have to pay to use them. This would help ensure a healthier environment.
Lagos State is trying in this respect, at the moment. I don’t know if it’s the effort of the state or local government, but public toilets are gradually springing up in some vital places. I noticed one on the busy Apapa/Oshodi road, in the Aswani Market area. I doubt if there are toilets at the market itself, so, this will serve a good purpose.

Sometime ago, there was an order that all Filling Stations in Lagos State must have a toilet that works. It was a good order, but I don’t think there was a follow-up to ensure that the order was carried out. Yes, there are toilets built in when the filling station is built, but is it working, and is it open to customers? The main trouble is that of water. Why would a filling station not have a supply of water?

If there’s no water supply from the government, shouldn’t it sink a borehole on its premises? Another problem is that of maintenance. Filling stations are not the only ones guilty of this, but most organizations; be it government offices or private companies. We’re all familiar with the long wait in most banks when you’re there for a transaction.

Sometimes we go there with little children who may want to use the washroom. Ask at reception where the washroom is and there will come the polite reply that ‘It’s out of Order’. When you ask what the staff of the bank use then, you’ll meet with silence. You’ll have to take that child out to find a bush to use.

Some parents feel guilty and ashamed to have to allow their kids relieve themselves on the streets, but do they have any choice? Try asking a little child to hold on until you get home! Big problem on your hand! Some eateries are guilty of this ‘Out of Order’ business too. That’s unacceptable.

How can an outfit which sells ‘eat in’ food and drinks on its premises not have a working loo? Isn’t that asking for trouble? It’s most unhygienic. What are the health authorities doing about ensuring that good sanitation is maintained in all these public places? It’s commendable that LAWMA’s street sweepers (the women) are so committed to their duties that come rain, come shine, they’re out there, seeing that the streets are clean. But this good work is destroyed when people stop to ease themselves on the streets because there’s no public toilets to use.

On the Apapa/Oshodi expressway, the notice ‘DO NOT URINATE HERE’ is common on the walls of most companies. Some days ago, I saw that a new company at Mile 2 went the extra mile as, in addition to the notice, there was an illustration of someone relieving himself, just to drive the point home. This means many people regard the practice a real problem to our health and environment.

The other week, a well-known international fast food chain was fined several thousands of pound sterling by British health authorities because, a cockroach was found during an inspection of its kitchen in London. I wonder how they would react if they were to come and inspect the kitchens of hotels and eateries in this country.