DIFFERING PERCEPTIONS OF RISK OF HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITY SITING IN RURAL NIGERIA
*Femi Olokesusi and Demola Adeagbo
Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), PMB 5, U.I. Post Office, Oyo Road, Ibadan.
*Corresponding author. Email: femioloke@yahoo.com
Accepted in March, 2004.
Abstract
Perceptions of environment risk have militated against numerous hazardous waste facilities such as landfills in North America and other developed countries. The spate of rejections led to the presently famous Anot-in-my-backyard@ (NIMBY) syndrome in environmental planning and management literature. The existence of this syndrome has not been empirically studied and confirmed in rural Nigeria and this paper fills that gap. In doing so, it compares the perceptions of two communities, one with a landfill and the other without it. The authors conclude that the NIMBY syndrome exists since respondents near the facility are non-supportive, and rated the anticipated negative effects highly while, on the other hand, respondents that are far from the same facility are largely indifferent to the facility and its negative externalities. Greater community involvement, appropriate compensation and better solid waste management practices are considered as having tremendous potentials for facilitating hazardous waste facility siting in the country.