In 2019, Nigeria’s President Mr Muhammadu Buhari signed Executive Order 009 to tackle open defecation with the Clean Nigeria 2025 target. With less than one month left, millions of Nigerians still lack access to safe sanitation. According to the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, less than 250 out of the 774 Local Government Areas of Nigeria are currently Open Defecation Free (ODF).
Open defecation is an urgent challenge in Nigeria as only 46 percent of the 210 million population have access to sanitation facilities. It is a complex issue that negatively impacts public health, gender equality, education, climate resilience and human dignity.
With less than four years to 2030, which is the deadline for the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development, young people are proving that the end to open defecation is possible through community-led, youth-driven innovation.
According to the World Health Organisation, Nigeria accounts for one of the largest shares of people practising open defecation. The consequences such as preventable diseases, contaminated water sources, school absenteeism, avoidable deaths and a cycle of poverty that disproportionately affect women, children, and people in informal communities.
The 2025 Clean Nigeria Campaign is one of the most ambitious behavioural change programmes in Africa. However, progress has been uneven due to a heavy focus on infrastructure development. Toilets do not guarantee use. Communities do not change behaviour because a policy says so. And the conversation around sanitation still carries stigma.
This is where young people with their influence, creativity, and trust within communities become essential.
With nearly 70 percent of Nigeria’s population under the age of 35, they provide the demographic advantage needed to drive behavioural change and policy action. Young people are not just beneficiaries of sanitation solutions, they are innovators, organisers, and community mobilisers who can accelerate the Clean Nigeria vision.
Over the years, the Network of Youth for Sustainable Development (NGYouthSDGs) has demonstrated that when young people are equipped, trusted, and supported, they deliver high-impact solutions that government and development actors can scale.
One example stands out.
In 2025, NGYouthSDGs worked with UNICEF Nigeria and ICCDI Africa on a project called Youth-Led Safe Sanitation and Climate Action in Aleyita community in Abuja. The community had long struggled with open defecation, limited toilet access, and poor hygiene practices especially in the local primary school.
- Youth Mobilisation and Behaviour Change
NGYouthSDGs associates carried out community mobilisation, going door-to-door to build trust with households. They facilitated discussions on hygiene, organised workshops, and debunked long-held myths about sanitation. Their age, energy, and cultural fluency helped break barriers that traditional sensitisation campaigns often struggle with.
- A Toilet Built from Plastics Waste
In collaboration with community members, the youth team supported a plastic-to-toilet initiative, using collected plastic waste to construct a community toilet.
This innovative approach did more than provide infrastructure, it created:
- circular economy awareness,
- ownership among residents, and
- a visible symbol of what youth-led development can achieve.
- Community Ownership and Lasting Impact
The project did not end with construction. Youth continued to work with local leaders to establish maintenance systems, promote consistent usage, and integrate hygiene education into community routines.
The result was a meaningful reduction in open defecation, improved environmental conditions, and renewed confidence that communities can transform their surroundings through partnership and local leadership.
This case strengthens a vital truth: youth-led approaches work.
As 2026 approaches, Nigeria requires solutions that are bold, scalable, and firmly rooted in community behaviour change.
- A National Youth Sanitation Corps
A structured programme that deploys trained young people as community sanitation champions across all LGAs.
- Funding for Youth-Led Social Enterprises
Support for innovations such as waste-to-toilet models, mobile toilet start-ups, and digital hygiene campaigns.
- Youth-Designed Behaviour Change Campaigns
Messaging that reflects local culture, humour, language, and peer influence is far more effective when young people lead it.
- Stronger Local Government Ownership
Youth advisory groups working directly with LGAs can strengthen monitoring, awareness, and sanitation systems.
- Multi-Sector Partnerships
The private sector, development organisations, and government must jointly invest in youth-led sanitation models that have proven community impact.
Ending open defecation advances SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and the broader commitment to human dignity. As the world turns its attention to sanitation on World Toilet Day, Nigeria has a chance to lead Africa with a people-powered, youth-driven model that can be replicated across the continent.
Ending open defecation in Nigeria is a moral responsibility to preserve dignity, protect health, and secure futures.
The Youth-Led Safe Sanitation and Climate Action project with UNICEF Nigeria and ICCDI Africa shows that youth leadership is essential. If Nigeria is to meet its Open Defecation Free target, the government and partners must urgently invest in young people as catalysts for behaviour change, innovation, and community transformation.
