Assessing the perception gap: mining impacts from community and company perspectives in Nigeria

Abstract

The study intends to evaluate how mining companies and their host communities perceive the impacts of mining operations and to ascertain if there are significant differences in how both parties perceive the impacts of mining in Nigeria. The study was carried out in twelve states in Nigeria and covered the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. Data was collected through a questionnaire and interviews carried out separately with community members and company representatives. The study investigated ten categories of mining impacts such as socioeconomic, environmental, health, physical and so on. To gauge the perceptions of the respondents on the different impact categories, the Likert scale was used. The Student’s t-test was then used to determine whether there are statistically significant differences in perceptions in each impact category. The study findings showed significant differences in how communities and mining companies perceive the impacts of mining. Out of the ten impact categories assessed, statistically significant differences in perception were observed in nine categories. The only category where there was no significant difference in perception between mining companies and communities was related to conflicts arising from mining operations. Shrinking these perception gaps is key to ensuring sustainable mining practices in Nigeria.