Social Effects of Crude Oil Production Activities in Egbema, Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Literature abounds on the economic and environmental effects of crude oil production activities in the oil producing communities of Nigeria. Some of these effects include reduction in economic and agricultural activities due to oil spillage and gas flaring as well as health challenges. While efforts are being made to curtail some of these problems, sufficient attention has not been paid in published literature to the social dimension of crude oil production in Nigeria. This study thus sets out to assess social effects of crude oil exploration and extraction activities in some selected communities in Egbema of Imo State. To achieve this, 150 copies of well-structured questionnaire were distributed to residents of the study area. Of this number, 141 copies were correctly filled and returned, thus, representing 94 percent of respondents. Ten oral interviews were also conducted with identified heads of households. The results as presented in Tables 1 and 2 show that social activities in the community have not been affected by crude oil production. However, some hostile behaviours such as youth restiveness as a result of demand for compensation/payment from oil companies operating in the study area were observed. It is therefore recommended that further research be carried out to assess security effects of crude oil production. This paper thus concludes that effects of crude oil production activities are obvious in the environmental, agricultural and economic sectors of lives of the affected population, but same may not be said of the social components of their lives.