Artisanal petroleum refining and health security in Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the ramifications of artisanal petroleum refining on public health security within the locales of Degema, Ogu-bolo, and Opobo local government areas. Its primary objective was to investigate the relationship between artisanal petroleum refining and health security in Rivers State. A cross-sectional survey research design was employed. Both primary and secondary data were used in the analysis of data. Primary data were sourced through a structured questionnaire. Secondary data were also drawn from scholarly literature sources, including internet materials and national publications. From the estimated population of 686,900, the sample size was determined using the sample size formula for proportion estimation which resulted in 384 respondents. Additionally, a total of 9 healthcare professionals within the study area were interviewed. A total of 295 respondents was covered for analysis, based on the response rate of the usable questionnaire received. A total of 202 (68.4%) respondents affirmed that they experience health challenges as a result of exposure to residues from illegal petroleum refining in the study areas. The data obtained were subjected to Pearson correlation and one-way analysis of variance using SPSS software to test the correlation. The test of correlation on the relationship between illegal petroleum refining (-.439) and health security (1) in Rivers State, indicated a moderate negative correlation, which is significant at 0.01 level (2-tailed). In order words, there is an inverse relationship between health security and illegal petroleum refining; which means that health security decreases as illegal petroleum refining increases. The incidence of illegal petroleum refining undoubtedly presents considerable hazards to public health security. This challenge can be mitigated by the assimilation of the knowledge and expertise of the illegal refiners into a comprehensive technology that the country can harness for starting up a national program of safe petroleum refining in Nigeria.