Managing the Environment with Limited Knowledge in Nigeria: A Study of Environmental Workers in Enugu State

Abstract

Given the importance of environmental management to human survival, this study sought to investigate the extent to which environmental workers in Enugu State, Nigeria, would be knowledgeable about environmental protocols, conventions and laws governing the management of the environment in the light of how highly educationally qualified they are and how much domestication of the international environmental protocols, conventions and laws has been carried out by the government at the national and local levels. The population of the study consisted of five hundred and seven (507) randomly selected participants who are environmental workers working for the state government. The research instrument was a self-administered questionnaire with a reliability coefficient (Cronbach alpha) of .81 and .85. The study employed a cross-sectional survey design and, the stratified random sampling proportionate to size was adopted in selecting respondents for the study. The data from the fieldwork were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, version 20). Descriptive statistics and Chi-Square goodness of fit analyses were employed in description and inferences. From the findings, the study concludes that a statistically significant proportion of environmental workers in Enugu State possess moderate level knowledge of environmental protocols and conventions (χ²= 174.3; df = 2; p-value = 0.00; χ²= 311.9; df = 2; p-value = 0.000). The findings have implications for government policy concerning environmental management especially as it has to do with environmental degradation and climate change as well as the framework for environmental protection which derives from the domestication of most of the relevant international environmental protection laws.