TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT IN POLLUTION CONTROL IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: THE CASE OF THE NIGERIAN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY Ph.D. Thesis: Summary of Findings

Industry has been reckoned to contribute much to environmental pollution in developed countries and much research has been done to proffer technological solutions. However, until last decade the technological impact of policies aimed at promoting environmentally sustainable industrial development was virtually uninvestigated. So far, work in this area has been largely limited to developed countries. However, there has been increasing advocacy that developing countries need not follow the environmentally unfriendly development path of industrialised countries. With regard to this, little is known about technology adoption or application to curb external diseconomies of production among industrial firms in developing countries, especially in Africa. In the thesis, the notion of environmentally benign technologies (EBTs) refers to those technological artefacts, measures or body of scientific knowledge, which facilitate the reduction or elimination of external diseconomies of manufacturing enterprises. The inquiry focused on the food & beverages and the textile sectors. The two sectors were chosen because they are widely regarded as being water pollution intensive, and they are largely traditional low technology industries where developing countries have appreciable technological mastery. Moreover, it could be shown that the two sectors make significant contributions to manufacturing in sub-Saharan Africa, contributing at least two-fifths of manufacturing value added in most countries where they appreciably exist.