Potency of some economic variables affecting environmental quality in Nigeria

Abstract

Environmental quality (EQ) is germane to achieving sustainable living on earth. To evaluate a related stimulus of EQ on area basis, a comparative analyses of economic factors that influence pollution in Iwo and Ibadan metropolis was carried out. Data for the study was generated through the administration of 700 structured questionnaires in total at both locations, out of which 165 and 473 were retrieved from Iwo and Ibadan respectively. The distribution of respondents in form of male gender, married status, tertiary education and household size of not more than 5 were 51.5%, 78.2%, 24.9% and 46.1% respectively for Iwo, while it was 38.5%, 81.0%, 28.6% and 48.8% in the same order for Ibadan. Economic factors analyzed were (1) Income (2) living standard indexed by the form of accommodation occupied (3) waste/noise management regimen (4) energy utilization (5) orthodox versus green economy adoption and (6) waste sorting capacity. Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin sampling adequacy and Bartlett’s test of sphericity admitted the data as factorable at p < 0.005. Results showed that three of the economic variables significantly explained the pollution status in Iwo and Ibadan. The variables in Iwo explained 59.3% of the factors and these are waste/noise management strategies (22.5%), living standard (18.7%) and green economy adoption (18.3%). 60.2% of economic impacts on pollution in Ibadan were explained by living standard (24.4%), green economy adoption (18.8%) and waste/noise management strategies (17.0%). Only two of the variables namely living standard, and green economy adoption were common to the two study locations, although, their importance and ordering varied. While waste and noise management were most significant in Iwo, the same variable had the least effect in Ibadan. Green economy adoption was least in Iwo but most significant in Ibadan. Thus, the economic factors influencing pollution in Iwo and Ibadan metropolis, though similar, may not be given a generalized weighting. In other words, analyses of pollution-related matters from the economic viewpoint should be location specific.