THE ROLE OF TELEVISION IN ELECTORAL EDUCATION IN NIGERIA (A CASE STUDY OF YABA AND ITS ENVIRONS)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Historically in Nigeria, television broadcasting has been use as a medium of communication that seeks to enrich the life of average Nigerian by influencing positively its social, economic, cultural, political and technological thinking. It also provides news and information about national issues and also serves as a source of entertainment. Television broadcasting promotes cultural awareness and seeks to preserve Nigeria’s rich culture, artistic and intellectual creativity are developed through this medium. All programs and coverage are audience oriented and guided by the nation’s social, moral, political, scientific, cultural, education and economic goals. Over the past twenty or thirty years the social impact of television has been so great that the subject is still being heavily researched by sociologist and other experts. It has been said that television has had a greater impact on the lives of the peasantry and other people who live on here. There has been an equalizing of opportunities for entertainment between the rich and the poor with the advent of television. Television broadcasting is an established form of passing across messages in our present society. As a matter of routine, television is a source of information and entertainment for viewers in their homes or wherever they gather to watch its flickering images. The information that it purveys may stimulate voters into more active political participation or apathy during elections. Political information on elections such as commentaries, editorials, news stories and media events are the television (TV) broadcasting houses package. Television is a key factor in the electoral process because it links those seeking public offices to the voters and most importantly, the same message on television can reach millions of voters watching at the same time. It is therefore not unexpected that politicians, their political parties and their media strategists have vigorously employed it to pass across various pieces of information to the public in the hope of swaying them to favor their own purposes. There has been a growing apathy of voters towards participation in elections. Most do not see any reason to bother to register in order to vote. Another group willing to register feels that they are entirely disenfranchised by the absence or little number of registration centers. Some scale the hurdles of registration and actually vote, but, feel that their votes do not count as they believe that sharp practices are used to install undesired candidates into public offices. Television is use as a tool in disseminating information to the people about the electoral process in contemporary times. Such enlightenment is meant to educate voters and members of the society about electioneering campaigns and other issues related to it. Television is been used by politicians as an instrument to advertise themselves to the electorates through jingles, political debates, advert placement, electoral enlightenment are all done through the television. Other political programs such as focus Nigeria aired on AIT network, Kakaaki and democratic license are all geared towards the education and political enlightenment of the Nigerian electorates. Television broadcasting in electoral education has become inevitable in Nigeria’s political system. This seems reasonably correct because all political and electoral programs have recently become the democratic watchdog of our political system, debates, criticism and discontents are all channeled through television. Nigeria history of elections generally has afforded us the golden opportunity of assessing the divergent roles of television in Nigeria political processes. The issue and question of educative information, mobilization and monitoring became a very crucial factor in the realization of the national objectives in the context of the electoral process. One of the main constitutional roles of the media in a democracy is to objectively monitor governance while remaining consistent, preserving and objective stance in holding those involved in the democratic process accountable to the people. The quest to propagate the natural law doctrines, the articles of French revolution, the precepts of American declaration of independence, the united nations declaration of peoples and human rights African charter on human and peoples right (RBID) for instance, the African Charter on human and people rights adopted in 2986, and ratified in July 1990, states among others that every individual shall have the right to express and disseminate his opinions within the laws. To this end the role of television in electoral education cannot be over emphasized, as it remained one of the viable options towards the monitoring of our electoral system.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM    

Democracy should be a celebration of an involved public. Democracy requires an active citizenry because it is through discussion, popular interest, and involvement in politics that societal goals should be defined and carried out. Without public involvement in the process, democracy lacks both its legitimacy and its guiding force (Russell, 2013). In recent years voter participatory behavior has reached worrying levels worldwide. Through the various generations of elections, declining voter participation, especially among the youth, has steadily and increasingly become a major issue of concern that has been equally affecting emerging democracy and consolidated ones. Decreasing voter participation trends are a cause of concern because voter turnout is one of the main indicators to measure the levels of democratic development and robustness of a country. Low voter turnout can be related to and originated by many different factors closely related to the democratic, economic and social development of a country. 

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The main purpose of the study is to examine the role of television in electoral education in Nigeria. Specific objectives of the study are:                                                    

1. To identify the nature of electoral education in Nigeria.
2. To identify the main reasons of electoral education in Nigeria.
3. To examine the level of electoral education in Nigeria.

1.4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

In-order to guide the study, the following research questions are formulated for the study:

1. What is the nature of electoral education in Nigeria?
2. What are the main reasons of electoral education in Nigeria?
3. What is the level of electoral education in Nigeria?

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0: Television broadcasts does not influenced the voting behavior of voters in Yaba and its environs

H1: Television broadcasts do significantly influenced the voting behavior of voters in Yaba and its environs

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study is important because it provides useful and vital information on the role of television in electoral education. The research shall expose the researcher and the entire respondents either as reference point or as a past literature that could be studied – thus shall be in a better position to enlighten others.

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study will be centered on the role of television in electoral education in Nigeria, a case study of Yaba area of Lagos and its environs.

1.8 LIMITATION OF 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

Political Messages: information on the candidate’s attributes that resonate with voters‟ needs. They also contain attributes of politicians that relate with constituents through the media (Fourie, 2013).

Election: Is represented as a process by which the electorates of a country vote directly to elect their leaders in either legislative or executive arm of government, or choice of selecting a leader by people vote (Nnaemeka, 2015). Democracy entails the notion of election as the means of selecting political decision makers. Election is described as the pillar of democracy. Election is the back born of democracy and there is no democracy without election (Nnoli, O. 2006).