Assessing the Perception of People of Environmental Resource Curse of Oil and Gas Exploration in Bauchi and Gombe State Nigeria

Abstract

Oil and Gas exploration was commissioned in Bauchi and Gombe state Nigeria in the year 2019 and the two states were about to be listed among oil and gas producing states in North-East Nigeria, after the discovery of oil in the Niger Delta region 60 years ago. However, the communities’ optimism has widened on the perception that the oil and gas sectors were the turning point fortune for socio, economic, development, and improvement in the living standard of people. However, a major adverse implication of oil and gas explorations is the environmental pollution impact on the communities which affects the environment and health wellbeing of people adversely. Conflict may also resurface, for example, land ownership and urbanization among the peaceful living communities. The study explored communities’ perceptions regarding the environmental consequences of the oil and gas sectors. Data was collected for the study through a questionnaire. The findings revealed that the majority of the respondents were pessimistic about the prospects of oil and gas sectors ensuring national development and income distribution. It has been concluded that the communities received inadequate information about the environmental impacts of oil and gas exploration; hence, they eventually considered it as a resource curse. It has been therefore recommended that strict compliance to environmental policy actions such as the imposition of market-based instrument environmental taxation, in particular, to protect the environment against the potential Cul-de-sac.