Environmental Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic in Owerri Metropolis, Imo State of Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the environmental impact of COVID-19 in Owerri metropolis of Imo State. The study used a city-based descriptive survey design for the assessment of the environmental impacts of COVID-19 pandemic in Owerri metropolis. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data and analysis was conducted with the help of multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA). Survey showed that 54.0% of the respondents were males while 46.0% were females of an average age of 35.5 years. Greater percent of the respondents are traders (20.5%) and attained tertiary level of education (33.7%). Survey on research questions revealed that majority (43.4%) of the respondents agreed that there existed environmental impact of COVID-19 pandemic in Owerri metropolis; greater number (51.2%) strongly agreed that COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on public transportation; greater percent (28.3%) agreed that COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the use of public water; majority (38.2%) agreed that there was a significant effect of COVID-19 pandemic on the use of public spaces; greater percent (31.2%) agreed that COVID-19 pandemic had a significant influence on environmental sanitation; and higher percent (42.4%) of the respondents agreed that COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on public health. Result from the analysis showed that COVID-19 pandemic significantly contributed greater percent of the environmental variations in Owerri metropolis of Imo State. The study recommended that sustainable effort should be geared towards prevention and control of COVID-19 epidemic in Owerri municipal and the State at large.