Social Media As Emerging Tools For Political Participation In Nigeria

The study examined social media as a tool for political participation. The study is based on the fact that social media is currently a tool for public opinion. It is a platform where the voiceless has a voice and where the jobless also has a job. For some time, now the social media has earned a strong recognition as private organizations, non-governmental organizations and government agencies have begun using social media as a medium of communication. The study examined the benefits of using social media and the weakness in using social media as a tool for political participation. However, the study made use of the chi-square as a tool for testing the research hypotheses. The result found out out that social media could be effectively used to enhance the electorates" participation in politics. However, the use of social media in politics should be in line with some statutory provisions.

Introduction

1.1 Background to the Study

Democracy is widely acknowledged as the best form of government in most parts of the world today. Elections, which represent the most modern and universally accepted process through which individuals are chosen to represent a body or community in a larger entity or government is one of the cardinal features of democracy (Nnadozie, 2007).This is so because in a democracy, the authority of the government derives from the consent of the governed. This is perhaps why democracy is commonly referred to as "the government of the people by the people and for the people". Usually, a democratic election would characteristically be competitive, periodic, inclusive, definitive and free and fair (Chukwu, 2007). Nigeria"s democracy may be considered nascent when compared to the older democracies of the western world. Be that as it may, the 2011 general election has gone down in the history of the country as one of the best elections in the last few years of uninterrupted civilian rule in the land. Udejinta (2011) observes that "one remarkable thing about the 2011 general elections was the adoption of social media especially the facebook by the politicians, the political parties and the electorates as a platform for political participation". The importance attached to social media in the 2011 general elections was better explained by President Goodluck Jonathan decision to declare his intention to run for the highest political office in the land on facebook. Jonathan had on Wednesday, September 15, 2010 informed his 217,000 fans on the world"s most popular networking platform (facebook) of his intent; 24 hours later, 4,000 more fans joined his page, and by the day of the election, on 16 April 2011, he had over half a million followers. His closest rivals - Alhaji Mohammed Buhari of the CPC, Nuhu Ribadu of the ACN and Alhaji Shakarau of the ANPP were also among those that made heavy presence on facebook and other social media platforms. In addition to the approximately 3 million registered Nigerians on Facebook and 60,000 on Twitter, almost every institution involved in Nigeria"s elections conducted an aggressive social networking outreach, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), political parties, candidates, media houses, civil society groups and even the police (Adibe, Odoemelam and Chibuwe 2011). Apart from the presidential candidates, many governorship aspirants, senatorial and house of assembly seat contenders from the various states of the federation also embarked on aggressive use of social media platforms especially the Facebook to disseminate their political messages, woo electorates and support groups towards the actualization of their goals. Before the advent of the new media, the older or conventional media - radio, television, newspapers, magazines, etc, ruled the world, and had directly or indirectly blocked popular participation in the electoral process. This is because there has always been scarcity of space and airtime given by the conventional media to the citizens to have their say in politics, governance and in the electoral process. Conventional media critics such as (Graber, 1976; Fallows 1996; Blumler and Gurevitch, 1995) cited in Abubakar 2011) thus believe that voters were left with paid political propaganda containing only meaningless slogans, making them disinterested and cynical about politics. They argue that there is absence of serious debate in the conventional media that could make people to learn the substance of issues and policies proposals as well as related arguments, and that this disallows citizens from participating actively in political discourse. Meanwhile, social media are interactive, web-based media. They belong to the new genre of media that focus on social networking, allowing users to express themselves, interact with friends, share personal information, as well as publish their own views on the internet. The ubiquitous access of these online devices no doubt, has democratising effects as they offer citizens opportunities for more fully engagement in the political process. This means that voters have become more than just passive consumers of digital messages; they are now creators of the messages. Writing on this development, Kuhus (2011) in his paper "Life in the Age of Self-Assembling message" cited in Adibe, Odoemelam and Chibuwe (2012) observes that: The value of the communication experience has undergone a sea-change; from the need to share it, to the need to share in it. Technology and social media in particular have brought power back to the people; with such technologies, established authorities are now undermined and users are now the experts. This implies that people can now consume media as wanted and needed rather than allowing media producers to schedule consumption time and content. A person can now communicate to anywhere from any place at any time. Again, using social media is less expensive than the outrageous political advertisements on the older media. The new media is flexible, accessible and affordable. They promote democratisation of media, alter the meaning of geographic distance, and allow for increase in the volume and speed of communication. They are portable due to the mobile nature; they are interactive and open to all. Nigeria experimented the use of this technology for political discourse during the 2011 general elections. The platform gave voice to many Nigerian politicians and electorates alike to make their voice heard in the electoral process.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The use of social media as a formidable force for social engineering and political electioneering has continued to grow. The technology is participatory, interactive and cost-effective. This has made it the medium of the moment as far as political communication and participation are concerned. Nigeria had her first true test of social media use for political participation during the 2011 general elections. Many positive results were recorded. For instance, both the local and foreign observers rated the election as the best in the fourteen year history of unbroken democracy in the country. However, a Human Rights Watch report of April 18, 2011 says that although the April elections were heralded as among the fairest in Nigeria"s history, they also were among the bloodiest". The reports further show that a total of not less than 800 persons were killed, more than 65,000 others displaced and over 350 churches either burnt or destroyed in the violence that precipitated the announcement of the 2011 general elections results in the northern states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara by Muslim rioters. Adeyanju and Haruna (2011) believe that social media played a huge role in instigating and fuelling the violence. They argue that during the period, many Facebook pages were awash with false rumours and gossips that added to hitting up the polity and creating unnecessary tensions. The GSM short message service (SMS) was used to spread false election results that differ from what INEC eventually announced. This made electorates believe that their votes did not count and that they were massively rigged. There was what Okoro and Adibe (2013) refer to as "social media war" on the various social media platforms, making use of all kinds of abusive languages, all manner of attacks and counter attacks among members and supporters of various opposition parties and groups. Several insulting and inciting messages flourished on Facebook and GSMSMS. These culminated in the violence and tensions witnessed before, during and after the elections in many parts of the country, with some states ordering non-indigenes to leave. The researchers believe that if a study of this nature is ignored, the lapses of the first experiment would reoccur in future elections, resulting in another set of election related violence, bloodbaths, unwonted destruction of property and creation of unnecessary tensions and panics not only in the country, but in the West African sub-region and the African continent at large.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The study has the following specific objectives:

To determine the role of social media as a tool for political participation.

To ascertain the weakness of social media as a tool in political participation.

To suggest effective ways of using social media as a tool for political participation.

1.4 Research Questions

What is the role of social media as a tool for political participation?

What are the weaknesses of social media as a tool for political participation?

What are the effective ways by which social media could be used to achieve political participation?

1.5 Research Hypotheses

The study formulated the following hypotheses:

H0: There is no significant relationship between social media and political participation in the contemporary elections.
H1: There is a significant relationship between social media and political participation in the contemporary elections.

H0: Social media is not an effective tool for political participation in Nigeria.
H1: Social media is an effective tool for political participation in Nigeria.

1.6 Significance of Study

The study will be of great benefit in highlighting the benefits of social media especially in the upcoming 2019 general elections. Also the study will be of benefit to political analyst as they can deduce some of their facts from the information rendered on the media. Furthermore, the study will suggest on effective ways through which social media can lbe fully utilized to achieve positive result in the political happenings.

1.7 Scope and Limitations of the Study

The study encompasses literatures on social media and discusses the limitations of social media in achieving an effective political participation. The study was however limited by time and lack of sufficient data as the researcher sourced for primary data through online pool using the most populated online forum in Nigeria.

1.8 Organization of the Study

The study is divided into five chapters. Chapter one deals with the study"s introduction and gives a background to the study. Chapter two reviews related and relevant literature. The chapter three gives the research methodology while the chapter four gives the study"s analysis and interpretation of data. The study concludes with chapter five which deals on the summary, conclusion and recommendation.

Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation

5.1 Introduction

It is important to reiterate that the objective of this study was to evaluate the potency of social media as an emerging tool for political participation in Nigeria.

In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in supporting the view the findings from the study that human capital development has a significant effect on the banking sector.

5.2 Summary

The study has examined the potency and the ability of the social media as a tool for political participation in Nigeria. A due background was introduced in the first chapter where the study"s objectives were highlighted and defined which included the determination of the potency of social media as tool for political participation; also the weakness of the social media was also part of the objective, which was duly examined in the literature review of the study. The research methodology was described in the third chapter while the data so generated were presented in the fourth chapter of this study. The study found that there is a significant relationship between social media and political participation.

5.3 Conclusion

The foregoing discourse has established the potential of social media platforms for the consolidation of democracy in Nigeria. The study established the fact that in spite of the challenges of social media, it represents a veritable avenue for political change by socializing citizens into the political beliefs required for democratic citizenship, and thereby promote sustainable democracy. It argued that the widespread use of the Internet for social networking, blogging, video-sharing and tweeting has a functional relationship with participatory democracy. We are also in total agreement with Bonin (2013) that social media platforms are the newest lenses through which we are experiencing the products of journalism. They facilitate online communities created by readers, listeners and viewers to discuss issues, have their voices heard, and get feedback in record time. The fact that social media is a supportive avenue for sharing views and opinions and discussing political life in the country implies that the social media can play an important role in deepening democracy, if conscientiously and patriotically utilised for that purpose. However, in practical terms, there is a need to translate the "rantings" on the social media to concrete impactful actions that could checkmate anti-democratic tendencies. This may not be long in coming given the rapidly evolving synergy between right campaigners/activists, journalists and the expanding tribe of social media enthusiasts. Not only will Nigerians be influenced by media outlets that report the news, but by each other while conversing on the current political climate through social networking sites and forums. No doubt some of those with politically motivated ambitions will develop a platform such as a blog or a page on a social networking site for delivering their political message and agenda to people. This study has established that the social media due to their interactive nature have introduced a paradigm shift in the electioneering process in Nigeria. They have also brought a new wave of influence on the mindsets of the teaming electorate in Nigeria. On the other hand, the non-regulation of the operations of social media and citizen media has made some miscreants to exploit them to perpetrate campaigns of hate and gossip politics. However, a populist leader who can rally pro-democracy groups, embrace and coordinate genuine social media operations to put the government on its toes is needed to safeguard and consolidate Nigeria‟s fledgling democracy.

5.4 Recommendations

From the findings, we recommend:

Periodic public enlightenment on the use of social media platforms for political purpose especially among the youths. The government should be at the vanguard of this campaign, using such instruments like the ministries of information at both state and federal levels, the National Orientation Agency, the mass media, among others.

Politicians and political parties, as well as their supporters should be cautioned on using social media to post/twit dysfunctional messages. Government or INEC may consider enacting laws that make such acts punishable offence.

Efforts should be made towards monitoring, moderating or regulating the various social media platforms in order to minimize the observed weaknesses and maximize the intrinsic values of the technology in the electoral process.

To achieve the above, it is imperative that the various media laws are urgently reviewed to address the technicalities involved in the new media technologies; this we believe would go a long way in making the technology more useful in the electoral process and more beneficial to the society at large.

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