Environmental Information Provision in Nigeria: The Case Study of Oil-Producing Communities

Abstract

The paper examines the environmental information needs of community members in the oil-producing Niger Delta areas of Nigeria. For the case study, four communities which are hosts to oil flow stations were selected. These communities fall under two local government areas of Delta State. There were 260 respondents, made up of farmers, fishermen, salaried workers, students and business people. The main survey instrument was the questionnaire. Interviews and observation were also employed.
The findings reveal that the most environmental information needs were in the areas of gas flaring (100%), health (98.1%) and land (96.9%). The main information sources used by respondents in meeting their information needs were town criers /community leaders (82.7%), radio (77.7%) and personal contact/visits (71.9%.). Libraries were rarely used as a source of information as only 1.2% of the respondents indicated the use of libraries as a source of information for meeting their needs. The paper also discussed the potential role of libraries.


(African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science: 2002 12 (2): 189-200)