ACCEPTANCE AND COMPLIANCE WITH ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION LAWS BY HOUSEHOLD HEADS IN IBADAN NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, OYO STATE

Abstract

This study examined the knowledge, perception and compliance of household heads in Ibadan North Local Government with environmental sanitation laws. Specifically, the study investigated the relationship between socio economic status of household heads and their level of knowledge, perception and practice of environmental sanitation respectively. The study employed Azjen’s theory of planned behaviour in which a person’s attitude toward behaviour consists of a belief that particular behaviour leads to a certain outcome and an evaluation of the outcome of that behaviour. In a bid to achieve these objectives, a cross sectional study was carried out using structured questionnaire. The household heads were randomly sampled from peripheral, transitory and inner core settlements of communities in Ibadan North Local Government Area (IBNLGA) using proportionate sampling method after ethical approval was obtained and informed consent granted. Data was analyzed for frequencies, mean, standard deviation and chi-square statistical analysis using SPSS version 20. Overall, 401 household heads (HHHs) participated in the study and consisting of males (65.3%) and females (34.7%) with mean age of 38.4±14.5years. Majority of the household heads had secondary education (42.4%; n= 170), self-employed (63.3%; n=254). The mean income from all sources per month by the household heads was 36517.2±40058.2 Naira with 34.9% (n=140) earning minimum wage (18,000 Naira) or less and 65.1% (n=261) income above minimum wage. Three quarters of HHHs had good knowledge (75.1%; n= 301), two thirds with fair perception (68.2%) and slightly above half complied poorly (54.7%) with environmental sanitation laws. Although several factors were observed to influence compliance with sanitation laws, poor enlightenment about various sanitation laws and policies, inadequate refuse dumpsites, lack of enforcement by environmental regulatory officers, as well as attitude of the people living in households were major factors. Analysis showed that except for income status that significantly influenced (X2 = 9.983; df =2; p-value = 0.007; p<0.05) perception towards environmental sanitation laws, gender, educational status and occupation did not significantly influence knowledge and perception of the household heads towards sanitation laws. However,

knowledge of environmental sanitation laws significantly influenced (X2 = 34.568; p-value = 0.000; p<0.05) compliance with sanitation laws. The study indicates that knowledge and perception of sanitation laws among the participants in the study area is high, however, compliance with the sanitation laws is poor. It is recommended that health promotion strategies such as advocacy be employed to encourage adequate compliance with sanitation laws, empowerment of sanitary inspectors to conduct house to house inspection, provision and proper maintenance of solid waste collection sites, effective monitoring on days set aside for sanitation and sensitization of residents on the benefits of compliance with environmental sanitation laws.