Impact of Oil and Gas Facilities on Socioeconomic Development in Brass Island, Bayelsa State, Nigeria
Kakain, Stephen *
Department of Economics, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The socio-economic development implications of oil and gas facilities in host communities have received growing attention in recent times. This study, therefore, examined how oil and gas facilities contributed to socio-economic development in Brass Island, with a focus on income generation and job creation. A survey research design and purposive sampling method were followed in collating data using a well-structured questionnaire from 120 residents of Brass. Descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentage scores, mean ratings, and logit regression analysis were applied to analyze the data. The mean ratings showed that the respondents failed to agree that the employment opportunities have increased due to the availability of gas and gas facilities. This finding further explained that the predominance of oil and gas facilities has not promoted inclusiveness in the distribution of employment opportunities among the residents of Brass Island. Additionally, the logit regression results showed that the availability of oil and gas facilities decreased the likelihood of income generation in Brass. This finding could be attributed to increasing levels of incidence of oil spillage and environmental degradation associated with the availability of oil and gas facilities which damages the source of the livelihoods of the residents. The results further showed that the availability of oil facilities decreased the odd of employment generation whereas the availability of gas facilities does not significantly contribute to employment creation in Brass. This finding implies that the availability of oil and gas facilities has not translated into job creation in Brass which undermines the intended and desired positive contributions to economic development. Hence, it is recommended that the benefits of oil and gas facilities for the residents of Brass in terms of income generation and employment opportunities should be optimized through well-thought-out people-oriented programs for socio-economic development.
Keywords: Isoetes, Oil facilities, Genome, gas facilities, Human chromosome 14, socioeconomic development, Homologus sequence., income generation, employment creation, Brass