ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AND LITERACY IN SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN THE JOS METROPOLIS, NIGERIA

Back to Page Authors: Akintunde, Elijah Akinyele, Bolanle Wahab, Babatunde Agbola

Keywords: environmental education, environmental-literacy, solid-waste, environmental sustainability

Abstract: The need to understand systems, connections, patterns, and root causes of environmental problems as well as evolve practicable solutions has brought to the fore, the relevance of environmental education and literacy in environmental management. Yet, the systematic study of the level of environmental education and literacy among urban dwellers in Nigeria is scanty. This study, therefore, examines the use of environmental education and literacy for solid waste management in Jos, Nigeria. Using a stratified random sampling technique, a sample of 1200 respondents was drawn from the three local government areas that formed the Jos Metropolis for questionnaire survey. Survey questionnaire elicited information on socio-economic and demographic characteristics of respondents, the level of awareness, knowledge, understanding, attitude, and skills in solid waste management practices and factors responsible for such practices. Percentages, mean, and mode were used to summarize the data. Results revealed a yawning gap between environmental knowledge and practice as over 70.0% of respondents claimed awareness of the environment, but only 65.9% claimed to be knowledgeable about the environment while only 30.0% had translated the awareness, knowledge, and skills into concrete solid waste management practices. Furthermore, variations in the applications of Environmental Education in solid waste management across the three local government areas were observed. It is, therefore, important that future environmental education focuses on translating knowledge into action in order to achieve the goal of environmental sustainability.