Assessing the Environmental Impact of the Jimeta Shopping Complex Demolition on Local Traders

Urban redevelopment in Nigerian cities often involves the demolition of informal marketplaces, presenting a critical dilemma between modernization and the survival of local economies. While the socio-economic displacement caused by such actions is recognized, the cascading environmental impacts and their disproportionate effects on traders remain inadequately researched. This study addresses this gap by investigating the environmental and socio-economic consequences of the Jimeta Shopping Complex demolition in Yola, Nigeria, on the local trading community. A descriptive survey design was employed, utilizing a structured questionnaire administered to a census sample of 300 stakeholders, including former shop owners, informal vendors, and customers. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including mean scores and percentages. The results reveal a severe environmental and public health crisis triggered by the demolition. The event generated significant unmanaged construction waste, leading to prevalent harmful disposal practices such as open dumping (Mean=3.74) and burning (Mean=3.54). Concurrently, it destroyed access to water and sanitation, increasing household expenditure on these services and creating occupational hazards. A critical finding is the dissonance between high community awareness of the waste problem and limited individual capacity to adopt proper disposal methods, underscoring systemic governance failures rather than a knowledge deficit. Employing an environmental justice framework, this study identifies the adverse outcomes of demolition, including heightened pollution, destroyed infrastructure, and increased health threats, as unequally distributed burdens that fall heavily on an already marginalized trading population. This disproportionate impact worsens poverty and hinders economic recovery, a phenomenon described as "planning blight." The research demonstrates that core drivers of detrimental environmental actions are deficits in public infrastructure and governance, challenging policy approaches focused primarily on public education. Consequently, it asserts that development-by-demolition projects, executed without community consultation or compensatory infrastructure, perpetuate social and environmental inequality. The findings demand a foundational reform in urban planning, advocating for compulsory, inclusive Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) that prioritize community well-being and adaptive capacity within Nigeria's development agenda.