Environmental Accounting and Sustainability Development in Nigeria

The study examined the relationship between environmental accounting and sustainability development in Nigeria from 2007 - 2016. Oil spillage cost, oil drilling waste disposal cost and degradation cost were the proxies of environmental accounting while human development index and human poverty index were sustainability development proxies. The researchers adopted correlational research design for the study. The study used secondary data obtained from Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation annual reports, CBN Statistical Bulletin, National Bureau of Statistic Bulletin and United Nation Development Programs (UNDP) Report 2016. The research Hypotheses test and other data were analyzed by Pearson Product Moment Correlation and simple linear regression tools with the aid of SPSS version 22. The outcomes of this study depicted that environmental accounting variables (OSC and ODWDC) has no significant relationship with sustainability development in Nigeria in the period of this study. However, Degradation cost revealed significant relationship with both human development index and human poverty index. Thus, the study concluded that environmental accounting has not fully influenced sustainability development in Nigeria in the period of this study. It is recommended that the National Assembly should immediately pass a Degradation Protection Law mandating all Oil multinational companies operating in the Niger-Delta region to observe and comply strictly with the highest environmental protection standards in line with global best practice to prevent degradation. We equally endorsed that Nigerian government should initiate degradation oriented policies in governance to ensure adequate human capital development of the people of the oil producing states in particular and the entire country aimed at reducing the rate of poverty, unemployment, and improve decent standard of living