Community Members' Knowledge of Shell Petroleum Development Company’s Remediation of Land and Water Bodies in Areas Under The Niger Delta Development Commission, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined community members' knowledge of Shell Petroleum Development Company’s (SPDC) remediation of land and water bodies in areas under the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Nigeria. A purposive random sampling technique was used for the selection of 240 community members in SPDC host communities. The data for the study were collected through the use of questionnaire and were analyzed using both descriptive (the mean) and inferential statistics (ANOVA). The result showed that radio advertisement (94.6%), radio talk show (94.6%), television talk show (95.8%), bill board promotional campaign of SPDC’s activities (90.0%) and advocacy visit by SPDC to royal fathers (87.5%) were various SPDC’s communication strategies employed in creating awareness of their environmental degradation impact management project. The result further showed that community members had moderate knowledge of SPDC’s conversion of organic wastes into manure for remediation of polluted lands ( =3.9) and low knowledge of the use of micro-organism to reclaim soil and water environment polluted by oil spill ( =2.9) and burning of contaminated soil to destroy the crude oil in the soil ( =2.4). The ANOVA result showed no significant difference in knowledge of SPDC remediation of land and water bodies by host community members across the states under the NDDC at P<0.05 level of significance. It was concluded that, community member’s knowledge of SPDC’s remediation of land and water bodies was low. The study recommended that more effort should be made by SPDC to educate community members more on their environmental remediation activities