HOUSEHOLD ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION PRACTICES IN KETU, KOSOFE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, LAGOS, NIGERIA

Abstract

 This study investigated environmental sanitation practices amongst residents of Ketu in Lagos Nigeria. Cross sectional research design was adopted, while multistage sampling was used to select 380 out of 21,569 respondents. Systematic sampling was adopted to administer the questionnaire. The study revealed that majority 52.4% of the households across the zones have lavatories located outside their houses, 87.4% and 90.8% sourced drinking and water for sanitation purposes from hand-dug wells respectively, while only 30.3% had ventilated improved pit latrine, majority 72.4% had open drainage systems around their houses. For sanitation practices, more than half 50.5% of the respondents across the zones do not wash their hands after visiting the toilets, and that open defecation was rife around 76.3% of the respondents’ houses. Majority 81.1% dump refuse indiscriminately on communal dump-ground, while 73.5% engaged in monthly indoor general cleaning. It was suggested that the local government through community development associations should not only pursue environmental sanitation reorientation until it becomes a way of life among the residents, but also, embark on environmental sanitation assessment, and subsequently, reward the cleanest street, district, residential premises within the local government.