THE LEVEL OF STUDENTS' COMPLIANCE TO ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES IN THE HALLS OF RESIDENCE, UNIVERSITY OF BENIN.

ABSTRACT

The Level of students' compliance to environmental policies in the various federal universities in Nigeria has become increasingly significant due to recent concerns of environmental problems becoming ever-so challenging, complex and expensive to manage. The aim of this study therefore was to assess the Level of Students' Compliance to Environmental Policies in Halls of Residence, University of Benin.

The research design is a descriptive type of survey design and the study population consisted of a total of 30,840 students of the study setting (Students' Affairs University of Benin, 2022). A sample size of 280 respondents was selected using the simple random sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was a well-designed structured questionnaire which was validated by the project Supervisor and two other lecturers from the Department of Health, Safety and Environmental education. Collated data was analyzed using descriptive statistical tools such as frequency and percentage tables. The impact of students' compliance to environmental policies on their health was established to help prevent the spread of environmental-related disease like malaria and improve the quality of life. Environmental education and proper monitoring were found to be effective in increasing students' awareness about the environment as well as their compliance to environmental policies. Also, study findings show that education is better means of achieving students' compliance to environmental policies than punishment in the study area.