GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT

The study sought to investigate the prevalence of climate change in Nigeria as science has it that climate is the long-term pattern of weather in an area, typically averaged over a period of 30 years. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The study was conducted in Nigeria. The population of the study consisted of all environmental scientists in Nigeria. A stratified sampling technique was used to select 50 environmental scientists from each of the six geographical zones, giving a total of 300 environmental scientists that constituted the sample size used for the study. The instrument titled "Climate Change Questionnaire (CCQ)" was used for data collection. Face and content validation of the instrument was carried out by one expert in test, measurement, and evaluation to ensure that the instrument was accurate for the study. The Cronbach Alpha technique was used to determine the level of reliability of the instrument. In this case, the average reliability coefficient obtained was 0.84, and this was high enough to justify the use of the instrument. The researcher subjected the data generated for this study to appropriate statistical techniques such as descriptive statistics for answering the research questions. The test for significance was done at a 0.05 alpha level. The study concluded that carbon dioxide is the main cause of human-induced climate change. It stays in the atmosphere for a very long time. Other greenhouse gases, such as nitrous oxide, stay in the atmosphere for a long time. Other substances only produce short-term effects. One of the recommendations made in this study was that the emissions of other substances that warm the climate must also be substantially reduced as the resultant effect of climate change can only be stopped by reducing global emissions of carbon dioxide from human fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes to zero.

KEYWORDS: Climate change, Causes, Effects, Remedies and Nigeria