An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Current Oil Spill Response Strategies in the Niger Delta Region, Nigeria

The study assessed the effectiveness of current oil spill response strategies in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. Four hundred copies of the questionnaire were administered to the residents of the six communities randomly selected in the study area. It adopted descriptive statistics using frequency and percentage as well as inferential statistics in the form of Chi-square for the data analysis. Findings revealed that the majority (51.6%) of respondents were males and more than 50% were between the age of 20 and 50 years. The majority of the respondents (55.7%) had tertiary education. Furthermore, findings revealed that more than 60% of total respondents agreed that the use of bio-remediated materials, onsite bioremediation, ex-situ bioremediation and boomers were the effective current oil spill response strategies in the Niger Delta region, Nigeria. There was a significant variation in the effectiveness of current oil spill response strategies such as bioremediation materials (χ 2=129.71, p=0.000), use of onsite bioremediation (χ 2= 128.52), the use of ex-situ bioremediation (χ 2=194.56; p=0.000) and the use of boomers (χ 2= 167.64; p=0.000). The study concluded that there are existing response strategies in the study location but they are not effective due to poor multi-agency collaboration, misinterpretation and inefficiency of information communication, poor coordination among stakeholders, long delays in information and response teams, and poor communication among stakeholders which are as well varied significantly among the communities. It is therefore recommended among others that the collaboration of the multi-agency should be reinstated and adequately established.