Harnessing trado-media in reducing land pollution and sustainable development goals in Nigeria the case of Cross River State

Abstract

The thrust of this paper is on using folk media to promote the protection of the environment, given that open defecation, indiscriminate  dumping of refuse in waterways and scooping of sand in waterways take place in rural communities and constitute hazards to  development plans in Cross River State, Nigeria. The paper formulated two objectives, two research questions and two hypotheses. The  investigation was situated under the Diffusion of innovations theory of development by Rogers and Shoemaker, 1971. The relevance of  this theory to the work is the recognition given the media for development task. The study adopted the survey design, with questionnaire  and focus group discussions, as primary instruments for data collection. The reliability estimate of the instrument tagged,  “Harnessing Trado-media in Reducing Land Pollution and Sustainable Development Goals Questionnaire (HTRLPSDGQ), was ranged at  0.71 to 0.84. A total of 400 respondents, using the Taro-Yamane formula were used to derive the sample size from a study population of  4,021,245, across the three senatorial districts of Cross River State. The multi-stage (proportionate, simple random and systematic)  sampling techniques were used to selects 15 LGAs across the three senatorial districts, 40 villages across the LGAs, 40 streets across the  villages and 5 houses at interval per street. Data from the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics and data from focus group discussions were analyzed using explanation method. One major finding from the study revealed that environmental pollution has consequences on sustainable development goals and that communication is pivotal in curbing land pollution, leading to the attainment  of SDGs in Cross River State.