Analyses of Quality of Life Variation in Nun River Oilfield Communities, Bayelsa State Nigeria

Abstract

This studyexamined quality of life variations in Nun River Oilfield Communities and Adjoining Communities. The study covered fifteen communities; tenoil and gas bearing communities within Nun River Oilfield and five Adjoining communities which arenon-oil and gas bearing, all in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. The survey method was the main of primary data collection; a well-structured questionnaire wasadministered on 398 respondents in sampled communities. The respondents were selected using simple random sampling technique. Data was both descriptively and statistically analysed using appropriate statistical tool. Both the descriptive and results from statistical analyses of an ANOVA test showed that F-ratio calculated 101.812 was greater than the tabulated value of 3.84, and the P-value 0.000 was less than significant 0.05 indicating that quality of life significantly varied between the Nun Oilfield Communities and Adjoining Communities. Secondly, results indicatedthat corporate social responsibility interventions of companies were largely responsible for the variationin quality of life. The study also revealed inadequate provision of essential goods and services in the sampled communities,most especially in Adjoining Communities which foreshadows negative consequences for quality of life. Government should design and carry out deliberate policies and programmes on rural infrastructure development, as this will improve the quality of life of individuals and communities.