[01] Pius Akinwande Ayadi, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. [02] Olukayode Oluwumi Rotowa, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria.

Open defecation (OD) is the practice of defecating in an open environment rather than using a designated toilet. OD is a fundamental environmental and public health challenge in Nigerian societies. Present estimate revealed that out of 47 million open defecators in Nigeria, at least 1.4 million reside in Ondo State. Therefore, this paper examines the spatial disparity of open defecation practice across residential zones of Akure. The city was classified into the urban core, transition and peripheral residential zones. The 2006 Enumeration Areas (EAs) of National Population Census for Akure were used as the sampling frame. Out of these, 24 EAs were randomly selected for this study. The simple random sampling technique was used to select 15 households per EA, which amounted to 360 households across the EAs for questionnaire administration. The study found out that 34.2% of the respondents were open defecators based on latrine coverage. At full dis-aggregation, where at least a single household member engaged in open defecation practice, the proportion increased to 54.4% of the respondents. The study equally revealed that there was a spatial disparity in the practice of open defecation along residential zones in Akure. The study concludes that the proportion of open defecators in Akure is high and therefore, recommends the acceleration of Community led Total Sanitation (CLTS), Sanitation Marketing (SM), and Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) OD eradication measures. Doing so will likely contribute to the improvement in urban sanitation and health.

Akure, Community Led Total Sanitation, Human Waste, Nigeria, Open Defecation, Spatial Disparity

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