By Francis Ewherido

Recently, I went with one of my sons to collect his books for the new academic session at St. Gregory’s College, Obalende, Lagos. While we were there, I saw a young man urinating at a spot near a row of toilets. As I was going to “lecture” him on the need for proper public conduct, I saw another man, well-dressed, in his late 50s or early 60s, also urinating nearby. While I was contemplating on whom to confront first, more men came and before I knew it, about 10 men were urinating near the row of toilets.

At that point, I was discouraged and turned back. By the time I was leaving, at least 20 men had either urinated or were urinating at the spot with another urinating at another part of this very beautiful, serene and well-laid-out school. These men belong to an organisation attending a convention in the school.

They had just finished the morning session and were on break. The irony was that besides the aforementioned row of toilets, there are other toilets attached to and nearer the venue of the convention.

Refreshingly, some of their members were disgusted by this public show of shame. One of them remarked that this could only have happened because the school principal was on vacation. But do fathers and adults need a school principal to instruct them before they behave properly in public?

While this was going on, students who came for holiday lessons were around. What examples are these fathers showing with their conduct? I asked my son whether students normally urinate indiscriminately around the school. He said no, because there are consequences if they are caught.

What happened is not peculiar to these men. It is a reflection of the rest of us. We urinate indiscriminately in public places: in open drains, under flyovers, beside buildings, from stationary and moving buses on the road, and just any place where we are pressed. Sometimes, somebody can visit you, spend time with you and take his leave without using your toilet, only to urinate beside your gate before entering his car.

By the way from where did we get this idea of open drains, which encourages people to urinate indiscriminately? They are not in the United Kingdom from where we got our independence. I have not seen them in other parts of Europe, America and even India( Mumbai and Chennai, specifically) which is close to us in terms of overcrowding of cities, level of public sanitation, hygiene and orderliness.

Women are not left out; they urinate anyhow, anywhere. It is just that it is not as bad these days because more women are putting on trousers and their anatomy does not make it easy for them to urinate indiscriminately, but some do not mind. I got to the gate of my office one morning to behold an unusual sight: a woman probably in her 50s stripped from waist to knees (she was putting on trousers) urinating into the gutter by the gate.

It took a while for the scene to sink in before I embarrassingly turned away, but the mama was comfortable baring it all on a busy road, I learnt, used to be a Trunk A federal road. If she had come into my office, we would have gladly obliged her use of our toilets, but why bother with a toilet when an open drain beckons?

Maybe she was under enormous pressure which is not good for her bladder. According to medical experts holding urine in your bladder for too long or resisting the urge to urinate causes urinary tract infections, weakening of the bladder and in extreme cases kidney damage in women.

I also remember once when we were travelling. After a long while, the driver stopped for people who were pressed to ease themselves. But the “wicked” driver stopped at an open plain where there was no cover for the women putting on trousers. It was a very uneasy situation for the women. The men had to turn the other way (Why torment yourself with the aroma of a delicious meal you are not going to eat?) while they bared it all to answer the call of nature.

I grew up seeing men and women urinating in public places. While in secondary school, the bush around our school, rather than the lavatories, was our main toilet. But this crude behavior is no longer acceptable. Beyond the public nuisance and embarrassment, it has enormous health implications. Even more barbaric and worrisome are those who defecate in the open. It is a common sight in Lagos as you approach Carter Bridge from highbrow Ikoyi.

The problem is not so much absence of public toilets as a bad habit, though we need more and better maintained public toilets. The same Nigerians who urinate indiscriminately here “maintain” when they travel abroad. The other day, a Nigerian who just got back from America stopped by the road, as he was leaving Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, to urinate.

It did not occur to him to do that while he was still inside the terminal building. He could not have urinated along the road at the airport in America from where he departed. What changed? Nothing except the mind set. He is now in Nigeria where impunity reigns.

Happily some Nigerians do not urinate indiscriminately in public places. They have disciplined themselves to empty their bladders before setting out. When they are pressed they walk into public buildings and even private businesses and concerns to request for the use of their toilets.

But many people have simply not unlearned or kicked out the bad habit of urinating or defecating in public. It is going to take a long, conscious and sustained campaign and advocacy to change people’s mindset, but this journey of a thousand miles must begin now. The embarrassment is too much and the health hazard is even more grievious.