ANALYSIS OF THE POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS (PAHS) IN THE WETLANDS IN OKPAI OIL BEARING COMMUNITY FOR CAGE AQUACULTURE ADOPTION AS A RECIPE FOR UNLEASHING SCIENCE FOR ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigated the concentrations of PAHs in the wetlands of Okpai oil bearing community. Five research questions were answered with a hypothesis tested. To implement these, Okpai wetlands were mapped into grids corresponding to Okpai
component parts and samples were collected from 5 spots in each adopting grab technique and composite drawn in 125 mL bottles were stored for analysis. The analytical standard was EU 1881/2014 and the instrument of determination was Agilent GC-UV/DAD model 6890G. The mean results obtained were pyrene; 160±0.11 µg/l, chrysene; 1.52±0.13 µg/l, BaP, 1.64±0.12 µg/l, BaA; 1.64±0.13 µg/l and BbF; 1.59±0.12 µg/l. The results were further subjected to test of significance with ANOVA using SPSS model 29 (IBM) at 0.05 level of significance. The p. value was 0.48 thus rejecting the null hypothesis (H0). The study revealed that the wetland was polluted by PAHs above the maximum permissible concentrations, thus making the wetland not suitable for cage aquaculture adoption for economic diversification. The oil companies are thus enjoined to adopt best practices in their operations.
Furthermore, environmental pollution monitoring agencies National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and National Environmental Standards Regulation and Enforcement Agencies (NESREA) should increase their surveillance on the oil exploration and exploitation activities in Nigeria particularly in Okpai, and the impacted wetlands should be remediated and mitigation mechanism be put in place to restore the ecosystem to encourage the adoption of cage aquaculture for in Okpai
wetlands in particular and the entire country in general for economic diversification