CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The African continent is one filled with various societies and kingdoms whose existence and history cannot be complete without the media of communication which kingdoms, tribes and of recent nations use to share information, ideas and knowledge between themselves in times of peace and conflict for better understanding or settlements of disputes that occur as a result of cultural miscommunication. The communication media in Nigeria and generally Africa has gone through a process of continuous evolution. Despite this evolution, it still plays an important role in the sustenance and growth of the average African society or nation. The media, whether classified as African communication media, traditional or new media, is essential and critical to the survival and development of any society. The changes in media forms in Nigeria led by the establishment of Iwe Irohin in 1859 by Reverend Henry Townsend (Mabadeje, 2004) for religious and commercial purposes has seen it been used for different purposes by Nigerians over time. At first, it was used as a tool in the struggle for Nigeria’s independence by the likes of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Herbert Macaulay, etc. It was also used to inform and enlighten members of the society on farming, trading, etc.

        The post independence era saw the media being used as a tool to support and fight regional battles during the first and second republic. The media was then used as a tool to fight for democracy during the military eras Nigeria as a nation faced. The media in all its ramifications has ensured that the tenets of democracy were practiced by those who got elected as politicians at all levels of government in Nigeria in performing its role as the watchdog of the society. It has not been an easy job as some of its personnel have been maltreated, beaten, imprisoned, jailed and killed. Yet this has not limited its role in doing all it can to ensure that the democracy that was fought for by Nigerians is practiced and sustained.

    Nigeria and other African countries where social media is in use, it is still mainly an urban affair and use is mostly elitist. Perhaps, the most worrisome of it all is the problem of weak or absence of regulation of the technology as Kidafa, Odoemelam and Elechi (2011) observe that “regulating traditional media in the face of issues like obscenity, copyright, right to privacy, etc., was upheaval, but have become more difficult with the emergence of social media”. The increasing use of social media and other online tools has indeed led to greater privacy challenges. This is to say that with the great potentials of the internet and other digital social media, is included the challenges of monitoring and regulation. The relevance of these authors’ observation to this study is that the new found media require some sort of regulation if our society must not fall beyond the short, nasty and brutish clime described in George Orwell’s animal farm which according to Kidafa, Odoemelam & Elechi (2011) prompted Ekwe, et al (2011) to propose for the anarchical theory of the media. The theory according to them foresees a society in chaos owing to disorder in seeking, receiving and disseminating of unfettered information. In many parts of the world today, individuals, groups, organizations and even nations are taking advantage of the opportunities provided by social media and other e-media platforms to mobilize millions of people to support and advance their course. In the political sphere it has become a veritable tool for mobilizing citizens towards active participation in the political process and Democratic projects. Baran (2010) cited in Adelabu (2011) observes that the success of President Obama’s Presidential campaigns in 2008 and his eventual emergence as first black president of the United States was largely credited to his active use of face-book to mobilize millions of volunteers, and voters. In tandem with the above assumption Olorunsola (2015) posited that the All Progressive Congress (APC’s) victory could also be attributed partly to her potent use of the social media. Corroborating the above statement; Japheth Omojuwa (2015) asserted that

Social media is that space, the many tools helping to amplify the voices of average Nigerians, taking ordinary voices and making them extraordinary by bringing them to homes, offices, and places most of them would have probably never reached under different circumstances. It started out as a playground for mostly young jobless people. Today, it has become the battleground of what has arguably be the most competitive election in Nigeria’s history of which apart from professor Jega, the keyboard is also a key c0-umpire. How exactly are social media influencing the political space in Nigeria and how have the major stakeholders taken to it?

The main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is probably the biggest beneficiary of the value social media bring to the table. Long before the party was formed in February of 2013, young Nigerians used to congregate on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to express their anger against the government. They used the platforms to organize protests like “Enough Is Enough” in April of 2010 to campaign for the then-Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to be made Acting President, a move that eventually led to the “doctrine of necessity” that got the National Assembly to name him Acting President. The force of Nigeria’s young people rose to a crescendo with the #OccupyNigeria movement in January of 2012 and #bringbackourgirls campaign in 2014. That anger has since been sustained and indeed spread to other young people who would ordinarily not be interested in politics. Simply put, social media has turned into an antidote for youth political apathy.

Today, the Nigerian awakening is fully on. All the APC did was harvest the anger of these young people. All along, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has been playing catch-up. The Goodluck Jonathan administration failed to sustain the momentum of President Jonathan’s unprecedented move of declaring his intention to run for the 2011 elections on his Facebook page first before anywhere else. Even though the administration started out well through President Jonathan’s Facebook account, it would be safe to say social media have been one of its greatest undoings ever since.

As President Jonathan’s Twitter page @presgoodluck with 32 tweets and 25,000 followers, was abandoned since May 2011. Imagine what four years of tweeting would have done to the president’s social media image. Its only use these days is to be listed on his World Economic Forum profile during the yearly Davos meetings and the WEF Africa sessions. Compare this to his main challenger Gen. Muhammadu Buhari who only joined Twitter last December. With just about 900 tweets, he has garnered over 117,000 followers and has since been verified by Twitter along with his running mate Prof. Yemi Osinbajo who, with some 430 tweets, has almost 80,000 followers. This doesn’t tell the whole story. Their biggest strength has to be the fact that they have been able to plug their campaign into the organic anger against the government that has been cooking in Nigeria’s social media space for at least 4 years.

Social media will play yet an important role in Nigeria’s democracy in the coming years. With Internet penetration rates rising, Nigeria’s 67 million Internet population is likely to increase over the years. If the current administration considers social media to be some sort of pest, the next one might as well prepare for more of the same. The freedom the space offers will eventually be deployed by a lot more Nigerians, and governance and a listening government would be the better for it. That is the future, though. This is about now — the 2015 elections.

According to the Nigerian blogger, commentator on socio-economic and political matters, environmental consultants, and social Media expert- Tosin Ogunlesi (2015) asserts that social media is Nigeria’s new battleground. As social media allows candidates to communicate directly with citizens, keeping control of the content, distribution and timing of their messages, as well as reducing their dependence on traditional intermediaries. It also provides a way for politicians to monitor what is happening in the public sphere during an election campaign.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Nigeria, the largest democracy in Africa, is secular and capitalist country. Here, election of representatives of people involves management one of the mega event in the world. During 2015 general elections (The Nigerian general election of 2015 was the 5th quadrennial election to be held since the end of military rule in 1999), there were around 150,000 polling stations across the country. The electoral roll is a list of all people in the constituency who are registered to vote. Only those people with their names on the voting list are allowed to vote. The general elections ushered in new leadership in the two tiers of government in the country. Apart from the other sources of information like the newspapers, magazines, radio and television, the social media were used as one of the viable medium which is interactive in nature. The social media offered some politicians an important platform in reaching many targeted electorates, especially the youths. The use of the biometric card readers debunks the idea that electronically coordinated voting is possible and improvable. It is a statement of fact that social networking has become a very important tool for political mobilisation globally. It is gradually becoming a dependable tool in changing the opinions and influences of the public. Realising the efficacy of this medium, some Nigerian politicians quickly embraced it and exploited it extensively for their political campaigns in the 2015 general elections. This study therefore investigates the role social media played in 2015 electioneering process and the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria

1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The study seeks to evaluate the impact of social media on the sustainance of the Nigerian democracy. The objectives of the study are:

1. To determine the relationship between social media and sustenance  of Nigeria democracy
2. To examine the role of social media in fostering political activities positively political participation and democracy in Nigeria
3. To determine the influence of social media on the process election in Nigeria during the 2015 general elections
4. To recommend ways to improve the impact of social media on the sustainance of the Nigerian democracy

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research questions are:

1. What is the relationship between social media and sustenance of Nigeria democracy?
2. What is the role of social media in fostering political activities positively political participation and democracy in Nigeria?
3. What is the influence of social media on the process election in Nigeria during the 2015 general elections?
4. What are the ways to improve the impact of social media on the sustainance of the Nigerian democracy?

1.5 STATEMENT OF THE HYPOTHESIS

H01: Social media influence and impacts electioneering process in Nigeria during the 2015 general elections

H02: Social media do not foster political activities positively political participation and democracy in Nigeria

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this topic and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their work.

This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a bench mark or guide for other work or study. It avails individuals with information about the impact of social media on the sustainance of the Nigerian democracy.

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study covers on the impact of social media on the sustainance of the Nigerian democracy with focus on the 2015 elections

1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS

SOCIAL MEDIA: Social media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. The Office of Communications and Marketing manages the main Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube accounts.

DEMOCRACY: Democracy is a system of government in which state power is vested in the people or the general population of a state. According to the United Nations, democracy "provides an environment that respects human rights and fundamental freedoms, and in which the freely expressed will of people is exercised.

ELECTION: Election is the fact of electing, or being elected. To elect means "to select or make a decision",