Health Risks Associated with Oil Pollution in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

Jerome Nriagu, Emilia A. Udofia, Ibanga Ekong and Godwin Ebuk
Additional contact information
Jerome Nriagu: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Emilia A. Udofia: Department of Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 13, Legon, Ghana
Ibanga Ekong: Department of Community Health, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, University of Uyo, P.M.B. 1017, Uyo, Akwa Ibom, Nigeria
Godwin Ebuk: Department of Public Health Services, Akwa Ibom Ministry of Health Headquarters, P.M.B. 1030, Uyo, Akwa Ibom, Nigeria

IJERPH, 2016, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-23

Abstract: Background : Although there is considerable public concern about the environmental impacts of oil pollution in the Niger Delta of Nigeria, actual evidence on the pathological and psychological effects in the health of local communities is minimally known. We sought to associate the perspective measures of exposure to oil pollution with health outcomes (inventory of health symptoms and functional capacity limitations) and determine how emotional reactions to environmental risks moderate these health outcomes. Method : The study was conducted with 600 participants selected from five local government areas in Akwa Ibom State where oil pollution is rampant. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data on the respondents’ exposure to oil pollution, self-rated health and disease symptoms, perception of risk of exposure and emotional reactions to local oil pollution. Results : Most of the participants lived in areas with visible oil pollution and/or near gas flaring facilities and regularly suffered direct exposure to oil in their environment. High level of emotional distress was a part of everyone's life for the study population. Risk perception in the study area was mediated, to a large extent, by dreaded hazards (catastrophic fears of pipeline explosions and oil spill fire), visual cues (gas flares and smoke stacks) and chemosensory cues (off-flavor in drinking water). The exposure metrics were found to be significant predictors of the health effects and influencing factors (emotional reactions). Multi-levels models suggest that at the individual level, the demographic variables and direct contact with oil pollution were important mediators of functional capacity limitation. At the community level, emotional distress from fear of the sources of exposure was an important mediator of the health symptoms. Conclusions : This study documents high levels of disease symptoms and environmental distress (worry, annoyance and intolerance) associated with oil pollution in the Niger Delta areas of Nigeria. It highlights the need for some intervention to ameliorate the psychological distress associated with living under such environmental adversity.

Keywords: environmental worry; environmental hazard annoyance; risk perception; risk tolerance; functional capacity limitation; health symptoms index; rumination; chronic stress (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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