Disaster Rehabilitation and Restoration Program towards Oil Spill Impacted Communities in Selected States in Niger Delta Region, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the disaster rehabilitation and restoration program towards oil spill impacted communities in selected states in Niger Delta Region, Nigeria. The study was carried  out from six (6) LGAs from three (3) states, that is, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Delta while questionnaire was administered among 400 respondents with return rate of 94% amounting to 375 valid questionnaires. The returned questionnaires were analysed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA for the study hypotheses. The outcome of the study indicated that repair of damaged community infrastructure (31.7%) and community arrest of the vandals (27.5%) are the most adopted disaster rehabilitation practices while application of fertilizer to improve the soil quality (35.2%) as the major restoration practices. Statistically, there was no significant difference in various rehabilitation programs among selected communities (where p > 0.05, p= 0.336); however, restoration programs showed a significant different among the selected community (where p > 0.05, p= 0.003). Deployment of capable hands for post disaster activities and stricter monitoring of activities during and after remediation, to ensure that the activities they have implemented are in accordance with regulatory standards was recommended.