EFFECT OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT POLICIES ON ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY OF NIGER REGION OF NIGERIA

Abstract This study investigates the effect of community engagement policies on environmental sustainability of Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The specific objectives were to assess the influence of community participation, transparency and accountability and inclusive representation on environmental sustainability in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. A sample size of 389 respondents comprising of regulatory agencies host community and environmental specialist. from a population of 13,708 using Taro Yamane’s (1967) formula for sample size determination. Simple random sampling was employed to select respondents. Data were collected through primary sources using a structured questionnaire based on a five-point Likert scale. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyzed the data and test the hypotheses. The results reveal that community participation has a significant but negative effect on environmental sustainability, transparency and accountability has a positive but insignificant effect, while inclusive presentation demonstrates a positive and significant effect on environmental sustainability of Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The study concludes that environmental sustainability strategies significantly shape Niger delta environment, with inclusive representation emerging as the most influential factor. It recommends that Regulatory Agencies and Government Bodies need to Re-design community participation strategies, Revamp community participation approaches to align with host community needs, ensuring meaningful engagement and positive contributions to environmental sustainability.