Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government area of Rivers State, Nigeria is one of the largest
reservoirs of crude oil in Nigeria and has experienced oil exploration and exploitation
activities for many decades. This study assesses rural households’ perception of the impact of
these activities on their environment, health and socio-economic lives. Findings revealed that
oil exploitation and its attendant pollution had impacted negatively on the socio-economic
activities of respondents compelling them to combine farming activities and fishing with
trading as alternative survival strategy. Oil exploitation was linked to pollution of the air,
soils, waters and the moral fabric of the communities. About 42% of the inhabitants were
engaged in farming prior to oil exploration, 38.09% in fishing while 19.05% were engaged
in hunting but currently 19.05% were engaged in farming, 14.29% were engaged in fishing
and 11.00% in hunting, while 26.00% now combine fishing with trading and 28.57%
combine farming with trading. The high cases of sexual promiscuity, prostitution, sexually
transmitted diseases, high rate of school dropouts, broken homes and unwanted pregnancies
among others in the area were linked to activities in the area. About 38% of the habitants
reported fever due to heat generated by gas flares, while 23.81% and 19.05% indicated
various gastrointestinal disorders contacted by drinking rain water, water from polluted
rivers and streams or the consumption of fish from polluted water bodies. Another 19.05%
suffer from various respiratory ailments such as bronchitis, asthma, cough asphyxiation as
well as ocular diseases (4.76%). This study indicates that from the perspective of the rural
farmers, the negative impacts of oil exploitation activities greatly outweigh the benefits
derived.