Evaluating the Environmental Impact of the Cargo Airport Project in Umueri and Nteje Communities, Anambra State

Abstract

This study, ‘evaluating the environmental impact of the cargo airport project in Umueri and Nteje community, Anambra State’, was conceived out of the need to ascertain sustainability of the project, its environmental impacts and mitigating measures as well as its historical and archaeological potentials. Significantly, the study objectives are particularly (1) to identify and examine the impacts of the project on the physical and biological environment, health, socio-cultural and socio-economic wellbeing of the Umueri and Nteje communities, (2) to locate and examine historical and archaeological resources affected by the project, (3) to examine and foster the community involvement, participation and awareness towards supporting environmental impact assessment in Nigeria. Three research questions provided the guiding principle from which our framework was structured and addressed. Research data were collected through qualitative and quantitative measures, thus, hundred questionnaires were distributed randomly to respondents in the study area, while ethnographic instruments used were in-depth (semi-structured) interviews. Also, field observations were carried out. Ten key informants from various social statuses within the study area were selected to represent the communities involved while official information were collected from the construction companies and from Personal Assistances to the Commissioner of Ministry of Works and Transportation, Anambra-State. Data were presented descriptively, in tables, charts, in pictorial forms and in figures, hence, data analysis were conducted quantitatively and qualitatively using Special Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and descriptive comparison respectively. Actual and potential impacts of the cargo airport construction were identified and evaluated such that the various themes outlined had pessimistic impact, which ranges from loss of communal farmland, loss of communal water points, total deforestation, destruction of medicinal plants, loss of both medicinal and other species of animals, reduction of lumbering activities, exposure to toxic substances in the air, loss of concentration due to noise, hampered social cohesion, and destructions of historical and archaeological resources except socio-economic standard which tend to had increased positively as a result of the income generated from construction activities. The need for community involvement and participation were highlighted and fostered during the course of the field research to ensure proper contributions from the host communities which invariably would result to sustainable development.