ANALYSIS OF GREENING PROJECT INITIATIVES IN THE FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, AKURE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The sustaining ability of the earth is a trending subject in this decade of sustainable development. Universities are ‘living laboratories’ for promoting environmental friendly activities given their position as breeding grounds for future decision makers. As a result, this study adopted Participatory Action Research (PAR) design to the analysis of greening project initiatives in the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. A sample size of 386 respondents comprising the proportions of three stakeholders – staff, students and commercial service providers were purposively selected. Another group of 13 informants who are environmental experts on FUTA campus were also purposively selected to form environmental assessment team. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaire with acceptable reliability of 0.930 and environmental factors assessment form designed for the purpose after initial aggregation of contents from secondary sources. Using descriptive statistic of percentage distribution and Environmental Awareness Index (EAI), the study found that the level of awareness for greening project implementation is highest among the staff (0.823), followed by students (0.770) and commercial service providers (0.769) respectively. Secondly, analysis involving Relative Effectiveness Index (REI) and Relative Performance Index (RPI) showed that training related greening initiatives (0.748) are the most effective on the campus while social and environmental benefits are of equal performances (0.802) and higher than economic benefits (0.760). Thirdly, Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) revealed that ‘energyprint’ (48.00 percent) is the highest driver of environmental footprint followed by ‘transportprint’ (30.20 percent) and ‘wasteprint’ (21.80 percent) respectively while ‘survival capability (best practices)’ (40.70 percent) was found to have the highest possibility of reducing it than any other inhibitors – legitimacy (environmental regulation) (34.60 percent) and resource capability (societal practices) (24.70 percent). To achieve reduction in environmental footprint, scenario analyses based on Stock and Flow equation of System Dynamics Model showed that the institution should annually combine Corporate Social Responsibility and University Rules and Regulations in proportions, 53.6 percent and 46.4 percent respectively. However, the study revealed both individual and institutional levels barriers in the achievement of this result. The most severe ones include: inadequate and sustainable awareness, ineffective policy, lack of knowledge and skills to handle relevant technology for greening. Further analysis involving Kruskal-Wallis test showed a statistically insignificant difference in the level of awareness for greening project implementation among major stakeholders in the study area (𝑋2 (𝑛 = 330) = 3.909, 𝑝 = .142). There is no statistically significant difference in the level of awareness for greening project implementation among major academic and nonacademic staff in the study area (𝑋2 (𝑛 = 34) = 2.374, 𝑝 = .12). On the other hand, Hierarchical Multiple Regression (HMR) analysis showed that the level of environmental awareness significantly moderates (R squared change = .019, F change (1, 317) = 8.43, p < .05.) the influence of greening initiatives on the performance of greening project in the study area with community service (β = .169) being the best predictor. Consequently, the study recommended the implementation of institution-wide policy supported by awareness creation among stakeholders to foster both individual and institutional levels commitments. Keywords: Environmental Footprint, Greening Project, Hierarchical Multiple Regression, Participatory Action Research, Multicriteria Analysis, System Dynamics