Knowledge of Undergraduates on Government Interventions in Environmental Issues in Southwest, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the knowledge of undergraduate on government interventions in environmental issues in Southwest, Nigeria. This examined the differences in the knowledge of undergraduates on government interventions in environmental issues in Southwest, Nigeria based on gender and ownership of University. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised all university undergraduates in Southwest, Nigeria. A sample of 1752 male and female Undergraduates in Federal, State and Private Universities were used for the study. Multistage sampling procedure was employed for the sample selection. Undergraduates’ Knowledge on Government Interventions in Environmental Issues Test (UKGIEIT) was used to collect data for the study. The validity of the instruments was ensured through face and content validity procedures and the reliability of the UKGIEIT was established using test-retest method. The alpha value of 0.70 was obtained this was considered high and reliable enough for the study. The data generated for this study were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistics of frequency counts, mean and percentages were used to provide answers to the research question while inferential statistics of t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The level of undergraduates’ knowledge of government interventions in environmental issues was moderate, there was a significant difference in the knowledge of male and female undergraduates towards government interventions in environmental issue and that there was no significant difference in undergraduates’ knowledge of government interventions in environmental issues based on the ownership of University. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that university management should intensify effort on environmental education programmes so as to provide students with comprehensive knowledge of government interventions in environmental issues irrespective of their gender.