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OPEN DEFECATION: INSIDE LAGOS MOTOR PARKS WHERE FAECES, FLIES WELCOME PASSENGERS
As the Lagos State Government battles poor sanitation and waste management, open defecation is still a common sight due to inadequate sanitary facilities in public spaces. IDOWU ABDULLAHI writes on how open defecation thrives in major motor parks that cater to millions of commuters who daily connect to their various destinations or transact business, exposing them to the risk of infectious diseases, especially during the rainy season
in the busy centre of Lagos, where motor parks are full of impatient commuters, honking commercial buses, ever-aggressive union members, and yelling conductors, open defecation lies below the surface.
From Oshodi, Mile 2 to Iyana-Iba and other motor parks, poop hides in corners, behind fences, and in makeshift stalls. The foul smell follows the city’s main transportation route, posing a daily threat to the health and well-being of thousands of users.
Despite Lagos being Nigeria’s commercial centre, many of its major motor parks lack public toilets and other WASH facilities, with people defecating or urinating openly in spaces around the parks.
Commuters, including bus drivers, traders, and particularly homeless youths who sleep at parks or under bridges around the area, defecate or urinate behind parked buses, stalls, rail tracks, or enclosed spaces.
With an estimated over 21 million residents, this puts public health at risk in one of Africa’s most crowded cities.
Despite its vital purpose as transit points for millions of commuters daily, findings by PUNCH Healthwise show that the motor parks and their surroundings now remain a hidden threat to the health of residents and travellers who pass through them.
When our correspondent visited some of the major motor parks including Oshodi, Mile 2, Iyana-Iba, and Obalende, the overpowering smell of urine and faeces permeated these public areas, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere for people wading through to connect to their destination.
Alarming statistics
No fewer than 48 million Nigerians, or 23 per cent of the population, still practice open defecation. The figure increased from 46 million in 2019 to 48 million in 2021.
Only 17 per cent of households have access to basic hygiene services, and just eight per cent of household heads can demonstrate proper handwashing, according to the WASHNORM 2021 survey.
Additionally, the United Nations Children’s Fund stated that Nigeria requires approximately 20 million toilets to eliminate open defecation by 2030, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Except for Jigawa, which had been declared open defecation-free, several states, like Lagos, Ogun, Enugu, and Borno, are still battling the menace, with some local government areas in the country achieving ODF status.
To mark the 2022 World Toilet Day, the Lagos State Government declared that it had constructed 167 public toilets in selected areas of the state, adding that it had also registered over 635 public toilet operators to prevent open defecation.
In March 2025, the government, in collaboration with WaterAid Plan and private operators, announced plans to build 350 more public toilets across the state to curb widespread open defecation and urination.
Despite these efforts, PUNCH Healthwise findings showed widespread practice of open defecation has reached alarming levels in major motor parks in the state.
Haven for diseases, foul odours
During visits to some of the major parks in Lagos on July 15, our correspondent found out that enclosed areas around the public places have turned into latrines, with people ignoring the health risks to relieve themselves in the open.
In Oshodi, Mile 2, and Iyana-Iba parks, the presence of faeces and urine in the open areas has turned the places into a haven for diseases and foul odours, endangering the health and well-being of the millions of commuters who use them every day.
For instance, the narrow path housing the rail tracks behind Oshodi park, leading to the Nigerian Army Shopping Arena, reeked of neglect and rot, with pools of urine seeping into the earth, while faeces lay scattered in the area.
Our correspondent observed commuters using the rail track path to connect the popular Arena or the bus park at the express tiptoed to avoid stepping on fresh or dried poops, some of which are flattened by the feet of those in a hurry.
Along the lines, the stench hung thick in the air, with each passerby calculating their step to dodge diseases soaked in the wastes that designed the corridor like a plague. Close to the Arena gate, people gathered in clusters, with many puffing away smokes of Indian hemp, and others lost in heated discussions amidst the gut-wrenching smell.
Away from the rail tracks, on the route from Arena gate in Bolade leading back to Oshodi park on the expressway, our correspondent observed fewer public toilets, with many mobile toilets under lock and key, while the available ones looked dirty and neglected.
While ‘don’t urinate here’ warning signs dot the wall separating the rail tracks and the expressway, there were unmistakable dark segments where stale urine was visible to probing eyes.
With the offensive odour, several traders and bus drivers were unperturbed by the silent threat as they were deeply immersed in their daily hustle to eke out a living.
Disguised as an intending customer, our correspondent asked a trader selling slippers and schoolchildren’s footwear along the bus park how they’re coping with the foul smell. She said they had become accustomed to it.
“We no get choice. People just stand anywhere and urinate. At the back of this fence, na there shit full pass because na there many people dey shit, na why everywhere dey smell,” she said in pidgin English.
Also at Mile 2, faeces ruled the open V-shaped section of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation site, dividing the two ends of the bus park. Walking around both sides of the V-shaped, human faeces swarming with flies clung to the corners of the concrete slabs.
Inside the sandy space, our correspondent noticed pools of urine in stagnant patches, and several poops which littered the area, releasing a choking stench that mixed with dust and other wastes.
The hot sun intensified the odour, drawing it through the park like a curse. Despite the prevailing atmosphere, food vendors and business owners in makeshift stalls in the area stuck to their daily routine, attending to customers.
At the edge of the V-shaped section, a shoeshiner who was just displaying his wares when our correspondent approached him, told PUNCH Healthwise that the place offers convenience to both travellers and workers in the park.
The man in his early 30s, who identified himself simply as Akinwale, noted that despite the availability of public toilets nearby, several people still prefer to urinate or defecate in the open space.
“Every morning, we clean human waste near our sheds. People urinate and defecate here in the open despite the public toilet on the other side. They messed up the place, and we have to contend with it because this point is where my business is really visible to passersby who may need my services.
“We have no choice. Even the union members have tried to stop it, but people continue with it, and nothing has changed,” he said.
Also, a man who parked his bike to urinate at the edge of the place noted that it was easier and faster to relieve himself than to walk down the other section, where there is a toilet.
“This place saves us the stress of going to that other side to urinate. I can’t drive down there just to urinate. I can’t be wasting fuel, and if I want to walk down there, who will I leave my bike with?” he said
However, our correspondent noticed that despite the available public toilets at the CNG Conversation Hub section of the Mile 2 park, people ignored the facility and turned the space meant for transit into a foul latrine, hiding health hazards in plain sight.
Crisis in transit
Despite Lagos being the thriving commercial nerve that drives Nigeria’s economy, the open defecation in vital public spaces like bus parks is putting its citizens in danger, and nothing paints this picture better than the Iyana-Iba park.
Situated in the Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos, every morning the motor park stirs to life with the chaos of honking buses, conductors engaging in shouting matches, and a crowd heading in different directions with urgency.
While the park serves as a critical point for movement and commerce, PUNCH Healthwise observed that beneath the bustle lies an unrelenting stench that threatens the health of commuters, traders and bus drivers, and union members.
Near the overhead bridge under construction at the park, a dark puddle of stale urine alongside fresh faeces dotted the place, trailing from the base of the structure to the erected red ribbons demarcating the footpath where hurried commuters, hawkers, and stall owners tread.
Speaking to PUNCH Healthwise, a driver who was resting in his bus waiting for his turn told our correspondent that the traders and youths in the area have turned the place into a latrine.
“If you try to go up there, you won’t see any place to step on. You can even suffocate before you get to the other end.
“The women’s and traders’ urine is here. Even others working around the park defecate to mess up the whole place. That is why the place is smelling really bad, and it’s torturous to stay here while waiting for my turn,” the man identified as Chigozie said.
A few paces away, several traders displayed their wares under umbrella shades backing the bridge in an environment lost in a foul-smelling mound of human faeces, with flies swarming the whole expanse of the surrounding area. The smell clings to memory.
Vendors nearby were seen eating while flies danced between the filth and uncovered food trays nearby, spreading invisible threats.
“We are accustomed to the sight of urine and faeces already. We come here every day to meet different kinds of human waste. Most times, we have to pack it ourselves before we start shading our wares,” the woman selling second-hand clothes told our correspondent.
While Oshodi, Mile 2 and Iyana-Iba parks were rife with open defecation which serves a stark reminder of the sanitary situation at the public spaces,
We gather that with the shortage of easily accessible and properly maintained public restrooms, many people, including traders, union members and commuters are forced to urinate or defecate openly around these parks, a practice which threatens the very health of everyone using the parks.
For instance, on July 16, when our correspondent visited Iyana-Ipaja, Ojota, Ketu, and Berger parks, there was no practice of open defecation as designated public toilets are available and accessible for commuters, traders, drivers, and union members in the parks.
However, at Obalende Park, where yellow buses congregated, PUNCH Healthwise observed faeces beside a clogged drainage, which demarcated the section in the form of a canal.
At the place, while our correspondent only noticed a single mobile toilet, which leaves not much to be desired by people pressed to defecate or urinate, the smell alone confirms the health hazard.
Union members blame homeless youths
Meanwhile, union members in the motor parks blamed homeless youths who sleep around the public spaces for open defecation in the area.
They lamented that the majority of those relieving themselves in open spaces were not transport workers but street boys and beggars who populate the parks.
One of the union members at Oshodi, Tunde Iwalewa, blamed the boys sleeping under the bridge, scavengers, and commuters who use the route to link Arena and the Bolade end of the park.
