Environmental Pollution and Economic Growth in Riverine Areas of Rivers State (2000 – 2020)

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Environmental Pollution and Economic Growth in Riverine Areas of Rivers State (2000 – 2020)

Ewa, Ifeanyichukwu Madukaibe1 & Fredric O. Eze PhD2

12Department of Public Administration, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Nigeria

Abstract
Over the years, there has been wanton destruction of the environment of the riverine areas of Rivers state, Nigeria including their water ways, air ways and farms. This is occasioned as a result of oil spillage and pollution. This study investigated therefore the effect of these pollutions on their environment. The broad objective of the study was to find out the impact of the environmental pollution on the economic growth and livelihood of the farmers in the riverine areas of Rivers State. The population of the study was 2358 (Two thousand, three hundred and fifty-eight) farmers whose main occupation is fishing and crop production. A sample size of 342 was obtained using the Taro Yamane formulae for determination. A total of 342 structured questionnaires were distributed and 279 were returned representing 82% of the sample size. Three (3) research questions were formulated and analyzed using statistical mean. Z-test statistics was also used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.  Findings were made to show that environmental pollution impact on the livelihood activities of people living in the communities located in the riverine areas of Rivers State. The study strongly recommends that a Pre-Mineral Exploration Strategic Plan (PMESP) be put in place to strengthen the government Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) programmes to provide awareness, compensations and mitigating actions to cushion the effects of environmental pollution on the agricultural, fishing, health and other socio-economic activities of farmers in the riverine areas of Rivers State.

Keywords Environmental Pollution; Economic Growth; Riverine Areas; Rivers State

Citation Ewa, I. M. & Eze, F. O. (2023).  Environmental Pollution and Economic Growth in Riverine Areas of Rivers State (2000 – 2020). International Journal of Economics and Public Policy, 7(2), 1-15 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8328390  
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