ABSTRACT
The research work is on the spatial location pattern of sawmills and their environmental impacts in Benin City, Edo State. The study is discussed in five chapters highlighting the various aspects of sawmills industries in respect to the aim and objectives.
Chapter one examines the general nature of the location of sawmills in the study area. The Chapter also contains the aim and objectives of the study as well as the hypothesis of the study. The primary aims and objective are to identify the spatial trend (spread and relocation of sawmills in Benin City), to identify sawmills impacts on the environment, to identify the challenges faced by sawmill industries and finally, to suggest possible solutions to the environmental issues caused by sawmill industries in Benin City.
The primary data were collected from GPS (global positioning system), questionnaire administration, and structured and unstructured question interview. The global positioning system was used to collect various sawmills coordinate which was used with the ArcMap software for computing the nearest neighbour. The total of 200 questionnaires was administered using random systematic sampling method to select sawmills within the study area. The questionnaires were distributed across various Wards that make up the four Local Government Areas of Benin City which includes Egor, Oredo, Ovia North-east and Ikpoba-Okha. Relevant information was collected based on their social data, locational factors, benefits, impacts on the environment and challenges as the case maybe. Analysis of spatial data was carried out using Nearest Neighbour Analysis (NNA), while the questionnaires were analysed using Statistical package for social science (SPSS). Also, the hypotheses were tested using the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).
In the discussion of findings, the study identified accessibility to customers and easy accessibility to site as the most influential factors affecting the location of sawmills. The nearest neighbour result of the study revealed a dispersed (regular) pattern of sawmills in terms of their distribution across space given a z-score of 541.60. The impact of sawmills in the study area includes both the negative and positive. The study identified the negative impact of sawmills location to includes; noise pollution, vibration nuisance, dust pollution, smoke nuisance, aesthetics nuisance and odor nuisance. While the positive impact of sawmills location includes the provision of employment, cheap wood for construction and cheap waste-wood for cooking. However, the noise pollution and employment benefits were revealed in the findings to having the most impact in the study area.
Finally, the study recommended some policies to the various problems pointed out by the researcher. Such policies include the provision of loan facilities to sawmill entrepreneurs and the reduction of tax by the government for indigenous sawmills. These recommendations can go a long way with a view to expanding the size of the establishment and increasing the quality of products.
