| dc.description.abstract | Exploration projects are activities geared towards extraction of oil deposits or other minerals. In addition to economic developments, the exploration project can create new communities and bring wealth to those already in existences, though it can also cause considerable disruption. Ideally, in as much as exploration projects are of great importance to the economic developments of a nation, it however poses grave dangers to human beings living around such areas of exploration. The purpose of this study is to investigate how exploration projects influence the socio-economic development of communities in marginalized areas. The study was steered by the following objectives: to establish the influence of oil exploration activities on land acquisition among the Turkana community in Turkana County; to assess the influence of oil exploration activities on health among the Turkana community in Turkana County; to examine the influence of oil exploration activities on education among the Turkana community in Turkana County; to determine the influence of oil exploration activities on infrastructural development in Turkana County; and, to establish the influence of oil exploration activities on environmental sustainability among the Turkana community in Turkana County. In this research study, a descriptive survey study was the appropriate research design to be used. The study was conducted in Ngamia1, Twiga, Etuko, and Ekales, Turkana County where Tullow Oil Exploration Company is located. The study area has 30 villages and 170 households with four different communities cohabiting together. The researcher‟s target population was 170 heads of households and 30 employees of Tullow oil well Company in Turkana County. A sample size of 131 respondents was obtained from the target population using the Fisher‟s formula. The main data collection instrument was the questionnaire. The researcher employed stratified sampling on selecting respondents from different communities and simple random sampling on employees. The data was collected and analyze through descriptive statistics, where tables, frequencies was used in interpreting the respondent‟s perception on issues in the questionnaires. The data collected for the purpose of study will be adopted and coded for completeness and accuracy. Statistical package for social science (SPSS) program was used for data analysis and interpretation. The researcher used descriptive statistics to analyze the data into meaningful information that will be used to make conclusions and recommendations. The descriptive statistics was used measures of central tendency such as mean, median and mode to describe a group of subjects. The researcher then used graphic presentation such as the use of bar graphs, tables, pie charts and bar charts to present the data. The finding of the study reveals that, majority of the respondents (91.1%) observed that political interference, uncertainty and delays in passing laws, energy policies and regulations into law are stifling growth, development and investment. The study also reveals that majority of the respondents 64.4% agreed that there is expensive land degradation as a result of exploratory projects. The study recommends that the community participation should be considered in making key decisions during oil exploration in Turkana as it has the potential to make suggestions that can reduces the impacts of oil exploration on the communities. | en_US |
