Flooding and the Socioeconomic Activities of the people of Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of flooding on the socioeconomic activities of the people of Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The study adopted the survey inferential research design, using the multi-stage random sampling techniques, a sample of 400 respondents was selected from ten communities for the study using 5% of the total population of the ten communities. A structured questionnaire designed by the researchers and validated by three experts was used to collect data from the selected respondents. The instrument was administered by the researchers and same retrieved 100% through the help of the village and community secretaries. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis was used to test the null hypothesis. The result shows a calculated r- value of 0.87 and a critical table value of 0.178 at 0.05 significant level at 398 degree of freedom. The implication of this result is that flooding has a significant influence on the socioeconomic activities/lives of the people of Mbo LGA. It was recommended among others that environmental awareness campaigns should be carried out by relevant authorities including the department of Environmental Health and Sanitation of the local government area to sensitize the people about the effects of their activities on the environment and to also move them aware from flood and other disaster prone areas.

Keywords: flooding, socioeconomic activities, disaster prone areas, alternative sources of livelihoods.