Respondents characteristics, their awareness and benefits of Sukur-Wanuki Hills to host community in Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Nigeria

The conservation of biodiversity in Sukur–Wanuki hills requires information on the socio-economic characteristics, awareness of the existence of the hills and the benefits derived by the support zone dwellers from the study area, so that a lasting management plan can be developed. Investigation involved the administration of 300 questionnaires on the respondents to assess the socio-economic characteristics and to identify the economic benefits derived by the support zone dwellers from the hills as well as to evaluate the relationship between socio-economic factors and support zone dwellers awareness level of Sukur–Wanuki hills. Data on relationship between socio-economic factors and support zone dwellers awareness level was analysed using correlation while percentages were used for the presentation of the results on socio–economic characteristics and the benefits derived by the support zone dwellers. The result of investigation into the socio–economic characteristics of the respondents showed that the average monthly income across all the respondents that ranged from N12, 611.11 – N15, 736.11 was less than N18, 500.00 which is the Nigerian civil service minimum wage. The major values of the study area in order of utilization include provision of fuelwood (37.67%), sites for farming (30.0%) and animal grazing (29.0%). The correlation between education and awareness of the respondents of the existence of Sukur – Wanuki hills was negative (r= -0.038) at 0.05 level of significance, those of income and awareness (r=0.269**) as well as that of age and awareness (r=0.189**) were positive and highly significan at 0.05 level of significance. This study suggests provision of social amenities and the employment of the teaming youth among others will immensely help in diverting the attention of the support zone dwellers from the exploitation of the biological resources of Sukur-Wanuki hills.Keywords: Biological resources, dwellers, biodiversity, utilization, socio–economic factors, exploitatio