The Pigovian Tax, Market for Pollution Rights and Environmental Pollution Control in the Niger-Delta Region of Nigeria

This study investigated the most efficient and successful approach (i.e. the pigovian tax or market for pollution rights) in Niger-Delta environmental pollution control. To achieve this objective, research questions were raised, hypotheses were formulated and a review of extent literature was made. Staff of the Rivers and Bayelsa states environmental protection agencies formed the population for this study. In order to gather the necessary information for this study, a well structured questionnaire was administered on sixty-eight (68) respondents from both states. The data generated from this study were analyzed using the mean scores while the stated hypotheses were statistically tested with the t-test. Our findings indicated that the Pigovian tax and a market for pollution rights are quite useful measures of controlling environmental pollution in the Niger-delta Region but the pollution rights market is more efficient. Based on our findings, we recommended the creation of a market for pollution rights as the appropriate measure of environmental pollution control in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria