From Open Defecation to Disease Prevention: Abule Egba Commuters Get a Health Lifeline
In Lagos, where 70 per cent of residents lack safely managed sanitation and open defecation continues to fuel outbreaks of cholera and typhoid, a single public toilet can function as a frontline health intervention. That is the commitment Reckitt Nigeria and MN Environmental Services are making in Abule Egba. Their newly commissioned facility, designed to serve 30,000 commuters each month, targets one of the city’s most overlooked drivers of disease: the absence of safe, dignified places to go. If it works, it could interrupt transmission chains before they even begin. Writes Mary Nnah
For the traders who wake before dawn to catch the first bus in Abule Egba, and for the students who spill out of danfos at dusk, the question used to be the same every day: where can I go?
In one of Lagos’ busiest transit corridors, the answer often meant an unlit corner, a hurried squat behind a stall, or simply holding it until the day’s work was done.
That daily gamble with dignity and disease shifted last week – a new public sanitation facility, commissioned by Reckitt Nigeria and built by MN Environmental Services, opened its doors to Abule Egba’s commuters.
More than brick and plumbing, the hub is a health intervention designed to serve over 30,000 people every month. It is also proof of a different way of solving Nigeria’s sanitation crisis: start with the people who live it.
The facility sits squarely in the middle of a national emergency. Over 179 million Nigerians lack access to basic sanitation, and an estimated 46 million still practise open defecation.
In Lagos, 70 per cent of residents do not have safely managed sanitation and 65 per cent lack basic hygiene services. The human cost shows up in clinic registers as cholera, typhoid, and diarrheal disease, and in growth charts as stunting and malnutrition in children weakened by repeated infections.
Data shows that these gaps contribute to high rates of waterborne illness, under-five mortality, and malnutrition linked to repeated infections. For years, interventions have lagged behind the problem.
Reckitt’s answer is the Catalyst Programme, a five-year global initiative to accelerate access to health and hygiene solutions. In Nigeria since 2023, it has backed 10 social entrepreneurs with mentorship, business training, and over N85 million in seed funding.
The model is deliberate: fund female and underrepresented founders who face systemic barriers, then plug them into a global community of practice across health, hygiene, and WASH sectors.
The Abule Egba facility is the first physical build from the 2025 cohort, delivered by MN Environmental Services, one of four health and hygiene enterprises selected this year.
Co-founder, Jife Williams stood beside the tiled walls on commissioning day and put it plainly: “Access to clean and safe sanitation is a fundamental human right. This facility has been designed to provide a hygienic, accessible, and well‑managed environment for all users, and we are committed to ensuring its sustainability and proper maintenance.”
For her, maintenance is not an afterthought. It is public health. “Proper maintenance is critical to prevent facilities from becoming disease transmission points themselves,” she noted, addressing the reason many past projects fail.
The design choices tell the same story. The hub runs on a biodegradable waterless sanitation system that reduces groundwater contamination and limits vector breeding. Its modular build means it can be replicated across other communities.
Separatemale and female toilets and shower facilities give women and girls privacy for menstrual hygiene management, a detail that determines whether a facility gets used or avoided.
For the market woman who spends 12 hours by the roadside, or the schoolgirl changing buses after evening lessons, that separation lowers health risks and restores dignity.
This is not Reckitt writing a cheque from a distance. It is what Cassandra Uzo-Ogbugh, Head of External Communications, Media and Partnerships for Reckitt West and East Africa, called, “empowering the people within those communities.”
At the commissioning, she said, “We launched the Reckitt Catalyst Programme to see projects exactly like this come to life. The fastest and most effective way to bring impact to underserved communities is to empower the people within those communities, those who understand the problem and know what solutions need to look like.”
She tied the effort to Reckitt’s Harpic brand and a wider goal: “Reckitt remains committed to expanding sanitation and hygiene access, reducing open defecation, and improving the lives of Nigerians. This facility is proof of what becomes possible when government, corporates, and local enterprises collaborate.”
That collaboration is literal. The project was delivered through a Public‑Private Partnership with the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA).
“There is no organisation, government agency or institution that can fight these challenges alone. It requires collaboration across all sectors,” Williams said.
State officials turned out to signal that the model has policy backing. Dr Hassan Sanuth, Director of Sanitation Services at the Lagos State Ministry of Environmental Services & Water Resources, was present, alongside Hon Shobayo Kehinde, Vice Chairman of Agbado Oke Odo Local Council Development Area, representing Executive Chairman, Hon Abiodun Ishola Ejigbadero.
Their presence, along with members of the Abule Egba community, underscored what the commissioning meant: government support for WASH infrastructure that meets public health standards.
The health logic is straightforward. Reduced open defecation cuts community exposure to fecal-oral pathogens that cause stunting and chronic illness.
In a transit corridor where thousands mix daily, one clean, well-run facility can interrupt disease transmission chains at scale.
Improved sanitation access in transit corridors like Abule Egba helps interrupt disease transmission chains in densely populated urban settings, protecting commuter and resident health at scale.
For MN Environmental Services, the work does not end at the ribbon-cutting. Strengthening local enterprises, the Catalyst model argues, translates to more consistent maintenance of sanitation facilities. That is key to preventing the cycle where a new toilet becomes a new hazard.
And for the commuters of Abule Egba, the change is immediate and personal. A mother traveling with her child no longer has to weigh infection against desperation. A girl can manage her period without missing school. A trader can stay at his stall, healthy, for a full day’s trade.
The commissioning marks a milestone for Reckitt Catalyst in Nigeria, but its real test will be counted in sick days not taken, in hospital visits avoided, and in the quiet restoration of choice. As Williams put it, this is about a right, not a privilege. And for 30,000 people a month, that right now has an address.
