Determinants of resident’s participation in environmental sanitation programmes in Owo Town, Ondo State Nigeria

Environmental sanitation remains an important component of public health and sustainable urban management in Nigeria, yet low community participation continues to limit the effectiveness of sanitation programmes. This study examined residents’ engagement in environmental sanitation programmes in Owo Town, Ondo State, Nigeria. Guided by the Health Belief Model, the study adopted a descriptive survey design. Primary data were collected through 520 administered questionnaires, of which 500 were valid for analysis, representing a 96.2% response rate. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Principal Component Analysis. The descriptive findings showed variation in respondents’ participation patterns across socio-demographic categories, including gender, age, educational level, and occupation. Women constituted 55.8% of respondents, while respondents with tertiary education accounted for 64.6% of the study population. However, socio-demographic characteristics were examined descriptively, and no inferential tests were conducted to determine statistically significant associations between these characteristics and residents’ participation. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin value of 0.884 and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity, with a test statistic of 8969.801 at 946 degrees of freedom ( p < 0.001), confirmed that the dataset was suitable for factor analysis. The Principal Component Analysis extracted three main dimensions associated with residents’ engagement in environmental sanitation programmes: awareness and information dissemination, community engagement and enforcement, and infrastructural and financial barriers. The highest loading variables within these dimensions were awareness and information dissemination (0.845), community engagement and enforcement (0.915), and infrastructural and financial barriers (0.688). Within the limits of the descriptive and factor-analytic approach, the findings suggest that residents’ engagement is linked to behavioural awareness, institutional practices, community enforcement, and infrastructural conditions, rather than being explained through socio-demographic characteristics alone. The study contributes to sanitation research by applying behavioural theory to residents’ participation in a rapidly urbanising secondary town in Nigeria. It provides policy insights for improving participatory sanitation governance, strengthening environmental health communication, and expanding inclusive sanitation infrastructure in line with Sustainable Development Goal 6. The study recommends sustained public enlightenment campaigns, community-based sanitation initiatives, improved infrastructural investment, transparent enforcement strategies, and participatory monitoring frameworks to enhance residents’ involvement in environmental sanitation programmes.