Dam Infrastructure and Happiness of Rural Dwellers

In the spirit of growth and development, Shiroro Hydro Electricity Dam was installed in Shiroro village within Niger State in 1990. However, important aspects like the happiness of the host community was ignored. The idea behind this research work therefore, is to ascertain the impact of the project on the happiness of the community. To realize this, the study analyzed the socio-economic variables of State of Mind, Household per capita income, Physical Environment and Social Amenities. The study used the Propensity Score Matching technique and the Binary Probit Model to analyze the data. The result obtained indicates that the income level of the community has increased by 18 per cent. However, the community’s happiness status is negative due largely to the loss of farmland and environmental predicaments like flood. Therefore, recommends introduction of flood forecast structure for early warnings to minimize flood damage. It is concluded that support schemes would serve as compensation to the dam-created negative externalities to improve level of happiness. This book's methodology and analysis strength is very important to all calibre of post-graduate students.