Level of Awareness of Effects of Automotive Emissions among Residents of Minna, Niger State

Abstract

The study was designed to determine the level of awareness of effects of automotive emissions among residents of Minna, Niger State. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for this study. The targeted population for this study was 360 respondents consisting of 60 Health workers and 300 non-Health workers who were randomly selected using stratified sampling with Minna metropolis. A structured questionnaire containing 36 items was used for the study. Mean, Standard deviation and t-test were used to analyze the data collected for the study. The null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The findings among others revealed that residents of Minna metropolis are aware that health challenges like headache, disordered central nervous system, eye irritation, allergies, lung diseases and even death as well as disruption of our ecological system can be caused by automobile emissions. It was discovered that these effects can be reduced if people are properly oriented using medium like social media platforms, television and radio set broadcasts, billboard advertisement and journal publications. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that: more awareness on effects of automotive emission should be created by the ministry of health just as they do for diseases like malaria and HIV/AIDS, It was also recommended that the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) should ensure that all vehicle plying our roads pass through emission test.