ABSTRACT
The crucial role that technology plays, has underscored the importance of the study of technology adoption behaviour of firms as a key to understanding the economic and social implications of measures designed to promote environmentally friendly behaviour of industrial firms. The apparent relatively low level of physical and human capital makes the leap into advanced manufacturing activities and production of high technology goods difficult. The new technologies may be either originally new or new only to the user environment. Environmentally benign technologies are in themselves technologies that are adopted by firms. The story of Nigeria's industrialisation, though typical of most countries of sub-Saharan Africa, might not appropriately reflect the situation of a few Southern African countries where political independence was a post 1970 occurrence. With respect to the manufacturing industry, technology investment in pollution control is an important means of mitigating this trend of water pollution.
