Kaduna’s Kawo bridge turns into public toilet

Our correspondents who visited the bridge area, observed that young and old people urinate openly during the day time under the bridge without fear.It was also observed that some of the traders who do business close to the bridge go by the side of the bridge to urinate. Bus drivers and conductors also stop over […]

Our correspondents who visited the bridge area, observed that young and old people urinate openly during the day time under the bridge without fear.
It was also observed that some of the traders who do business close to the bridge go by the side of the bridge to urinate. Bus drivers and conductors also stop over there to urinate. Passersby too are not left out in the act while those who defecate there do that during the dark hours when nobody can see them.
As a result of all these, offensive smell always ooze out from the bridge area while the constant urinating has drawn lots of pattern all around the bridge side; making the area always wet even without rain because as one or two people are leaving after urinating, another set are following to do same and it continues like that on a daily basis.
One of the traders selling fruit close to the bridge, who does not want his name published, said that there are toilets around the place but that some people just choose not to use them.
“Sometimes, we try to stop people from urinating there but before you know what is happening, you will see some people there already urinating, so how many people do we want to stop? Some people wait until it is dark before they come to defecate there. I think there is need for the area to be lightened up so that people who perpetrate such act at night can be seen,” he said.
While some said it is just a bad attitude on the part of the perpetrators of such acts, some said that people urinate there because the toilets available are not enough for the numerous people doing business around there. “This is a road, so most of the people who urinate by the bridge are passersby,” Mallam Auwalu said.
According to Abdullazeez, seller of GSM accessories close to the bridge; people will not do things in an orderly manner as long as there is no law. He therefore suggested that a law be made that nobody should urinate anywhere outside except in toilets and that there will be a stipulated punishment for whoever is found guilty.
He said there are about seven toilets for urinating, defecating and bathing in that area alone. “Some of the toilets are run by private individuals while some are state owned. We also have mosques with public toilets, all the filling stations and houses around here have toilets where people can ease themselves but the dirty ones will prefer to urinate on the road. To urinate is free but to bath or defecate is N20 only, so I don’t know why some people want to be forced to do the right thing,” he added.
He reiterated that government must come up with a law and also station task force to enforce the law until people change their attitude.
Hajia Maimuna Mohammed who sells fruit, said some of the perpetrators are strangers who are just passing by and don’t know that there are toilets but some urinate by the bridge because of the laziness of going to the toilets.
On how they have been coping with the smell around there, she said there is nothing they can do since they don’t have the power to stop anybody from urinating there.
“We are here for business because we must survive, so we manage and face our business, but truly it is terrible. Government can come in by stationing some people there to direct whoever wants to urinate there to where the toilets are. They could also write boldly on the walls of the bridge ‘Do not urinate here by order’ and whoever is found urinating should be punished,” she suggested.