Changing the Trend of Voters Apathy Through Political Communication
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain the relationship between voters apathy and political communication
- To ascertain the impact of political communication to voters
- To find out the effect of political communication on the turnout of voters during election day
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
NIGERIAN POLITICAL COMMUNICATIONS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Political Communications in Colonial Nigeria
Media ownership in colonial Nigeria was dominated by missionaries, colonial administrators, nationalists, political parties, politicians and private foreign organizations. During the colonial period, the press served as a medium of sustained public debate and political protest, an uncompromising advocate of administrative and political reforms, and a seething critic of the excesses of the colonial order. By its political activities, the press not only stimulated the emergence of nationalist movements but also played a prominent role in the constitutional development of modern Nigeria. During the period of nationalism, the press served as political recruiters and mobilizers. First, the party papers served as vehicles for changing political consciousness, and through them the ideas of nationalism were propagated. Secondly, the press generally recruited people to political movements. Thirdly, they contributed to party organization. Fourthly, the press encouraged the penetration of political activities into the provinces. In fact, the press was among the major weapons used by the nationalist leadership to gain and consolidate political power and governmental control (Omu, 1968; Duyile, 1987). In the campaigns for the 1953 elections, newspapers were identified as falling into three groups: the Pro-NNDP, exemplified by the Record; anti-NNDP, exemplified by the Advocate. The Tribune was the campaign forum for the Action Group, while the NCNC had the Pilot. In the post-independence era, the media were also employed for political communication. They initiated and sustained public debate on a wide range of issues, including ‘the national census’, ‘creation of states’, ‘revenue allocation’, ‘national reconstruction, reconciliation and rehabilitation’, ‘International Monetary Fund(IMF)debate’, ‘green revolution’, ‘ethical revolution’, ‘operation feed the nation’ and ‘war against indiscipline’.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to changing the trend of voters apathy through political communication
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain changing the trend of voters apathy through political communication. 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 addressing the challenges of voters apathy through political communication
Summary
This study was on changing the trend of voters apathy through political communication. Three objectives were raised which include: To ascertain the relationship between voter’s apathy and political communication, to ascertain the impact of political communication to voters, to find out the effect of political communication on the turnout of voters during Election Day. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 selected residents in Ikorodu local government of Lagos state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made of civil servants, youths, politicians and married men were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
The purpose of this article was to empirically find out the factors behind voters’ apathy through political communication. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that Nigerians should change some of the sections in the constitution for the independence and development of INEC officials. The commitment to this initiative should be clearly articulated and should form a key plan for the executive game plan. Given the violence state of the politicians, Nigerians should rewrite the constitutions to take care of this violence that characterizes the environment of the present day politics. The empirical evidence reflects the degree of violence, threats, abuse of human rights which threaten, to a large extent, credible, free, and fair election and disenfranchises voters from poll on voting days. There is evidence to suggest that countries where order prevails were more committed to encouraging voters. The adherence to rules and law of the game seem to enjoy strong support. Conversely, there appears to be a lack of cohesion demonstrated by the absence of order, transparency and accountability
Recommendation
There is need to restructure and revitalize the Independent National Electoral Commission: The role of INEC in election management should be positively reformed. Urgent need for honest, qualified and sincere personnel to handle the affairs of INEC is imperative. Voters’ registration, electoral complaints, and disputes should be urgently addressed. Clauses which compromised INEC’s independence in the constitution must be removed. INEC is meant to be an independent, autonomous, transparent, and accountable organization not answerable to no-one but to the general public. For the president to elect the 37 recs and for INEC to report to him is not tidy. We therefore suggest the removal of the clauses in the constitution. Political party reform is an indispensable tool in dealing with voters’ apathy. Political parties should develop policies that address the needs of the people Political parties should also explore the intra and inter party strategies that could contribute in curbing electoral violence.
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