By Kelechi Deca
In the last one month, I have had the opportunity of traversing over 6 countries. I make efforts to pay attention to the smallest observable details from the airport receptions to taxi drivers down to hotel receptions. These three stages define a society more than its economic indices because embedded in them are all the information one needs to arrive at a conclusion on whether such a country is on the right track of human development, or regressing towards primitivism.
One area I paid attention to was the toilets. Toilets, though a subject most people would rather not discuss, is a very important indicator of several aspects of human and economic development of a country.
About seven years ago while having a discussion with colleagues, I pointed out that any society that cannot maintain a clean toilet cannot manage an airline, run an airport efficiently, and would never participate in the race for the 4th industrial revolution.
We joked about that statement because there is no existing literature on management or ancillary discipline that I know of, where such a parallel has been drawn. But when I got home that day, my mind could not rest. I started digging mentally into observations that favoured my postulation. But I was afraid not to fall into a confirmation bias setting.
However, after keenly observing the state of toilet facilities in both public and private property across many countries, I could beat my chest that I was not far from the truth. Check out countries that are making inroads into several aspects of technology, sciences, entrepreneurship and human development. And check the state of toilet facilities in these countries.
Check also the countries that have continued to be on the top 10 list of best airlines in the world. Then crosscheck with the countries where the best airports in the world in the last decade are located.
Ability to maintain a squeaky clean toilet is beyond capacity. It has not to do with availability of facilities. It is a culture. An ingrained culture that has become hereditary in some countries such that kids born in those places walk right out of the womb having that consciousness.
The stark difference between societies that treat their toilets with respect and those that don’t care are self-evident. Those that see toilets as just a waste disposal cubicle have not been able to achieve anything worthwhile at the global stage. This is because the same attention to details and stickability needed to function in other areas of life is what is needed to maintain a clean toilet.
Have you walked into the toilets in some of our celebrated private companies in Nigeria? Oftentimes, they ran out of toilet papers, liquid soaps, running water and even air fresheners. If a bank can’t maintain its toilets, what makes you think your money is safe with them?
What of how we design our toilets without giving a thought to children, and physically challenged people? How many public or private places in Nigeria with toilets that are designed with nursing mothers in mind, to change diapers.
These are functions of our general thought process reflecting how we plan our cities, estates and physical environment, which in itself is a product of our culture and quality of intelligence. Whenever I refer to us as a primitive society, your inability to understand is testament of that primitivism.
This is imperative because until we evolve to the level where simple things such as these trigger us into actions. Until we evolve to that level where a large majority of us always aspire to leave a toilet cleaner than we met it, we’ll remain stuck to this atavistic state of being.
A visit to the new terminal of Muritala Mohammed International Airport would convince you of our challenges in living up to expectations of civilization. Many of the sensors in the toilets are not working, some of the urinals have started turning brownish and some toilets hardly have either toilet papers or air fresheners. Add to that, we have cleaners who stand in the way while rationing toilet papers to passengers as if it is food in refugee camps.
While some societies have evolved to maintain clean toilets, others have taken it to another level. Take Japan for example. Their toilets are works of art; it is like sitting on the pinnacle of human innovation while admiring well detailed masterpieces. Their toilets are the cleanest part of their homes, offices and public spaces.
Cleanliness is ingrained in their culture from birth. The bathroom is a sacred place. They even have a ‘toilet god’ that represents sanitation. In Japanese culture, they teach children to do their own cleaning. Most of their schools from primary levels do not have paid cleaners. Kids do the cleaning. It is culture. And part of education.
Do you wonder why out of the top 10 best airports in the world, three are in Japan? Can’t you see the same attention to details in their technology? You think it is a coincidence that they build the most reliable and long lasting products in the world.
Everything is connected to everything is an aphorism often called the First Law of Ecology and of geography.
About Author:
Kelechi Deca, a Development Journalist is Editor-in-chief of The African Economy Magazine.
