AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE AND DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES BY GOVERNMENT AND EMERGING POLITICAL LEADERS –THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE AND DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES BY GOVERNMENT AND EMERGING POLITICAL LEADERS –THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE

Abstract

 

Most political systems around the world, including long-standing democratic systems, have been afflicted by corruption: non-transparent decision making processes, power distribution, cynical public relations and poor consultation exercises. The consequence has been a sense of prevailing injustice; citizenship inequality and lack of transparency in Governance. The media is often seen as a medium that could address and tackle these current socio-political problems within society. However, the role Social Media could play is widely debated between two schools of thought – media and communication studies and critical political economy – the study of social relations, particularly power relations, that constitute the production, distribution, and consumption of communication resources, and this debate leads to uncertainty about the role of ICTs in empowering public participation.

This research assesses the views of those in Government Ministries, Democratic Institutions, National IT agencies, and emerging citizen leaders in the form of Nigerian graduate and postgraduate students. Nigeria makes an important case study as it sits at the fulcrum of the battle between citizen freedoms and Government censorship. This research asks how Nigeria’s government institutions and agencies conceptualises ICTs and to what extent they have used the new ICT tools for political re-engineering of the polity as well as to engage citizen’s participation in democratic processes as indices to ICT use for sustainable development in Nigeria. It draws upon power theories and theories on media and technology use in political communications, as theoretical benchmarks to contextualise Nigeria’s hegemonic media institutions, to explore the transparency and accountability within government institutions/agencies together with new participatory culture Social Media use.

The study tests various social theories concerning interactive media, and asks whether ,by encouraging audiences to express their opinions, interactive media can be perceived as a tool for expanding the freedom of individuals (Sen, 1999) and in particular their social or political “capability” (Srinivasan, 2007), lending credibility to the label of new ICT’s as “technologies of freedom”(Willems, 2013). This study will establish whether or not expansion of interactive media leads, on balance, to more inclusive or more democratic practices and more transparent governance or more just and efficient delivery of public goods. The study examines how these new mediated

‘public’ spaces enable different expressions of public opinion.

 

CHAPTER ONE

Chapter One states the rationale and significance of the research and introduces the essence of the issues addressed in this study Introduction:  

1.0          Introduction:

As the most populous country in Africa, with its youthful population of 173  million as at 2013, and as the world’s 12th largest producer, and the 8th largest exporter of petroleum,  Nigeria is arguably Africa’s dominant economic and political power (World Bank, 2015; Dike, 2014). However, its riches – it has the highest gross national product in Africa – have delivered neither stability nor prosperity. Far from establishing conditions fertile for expansive inclusive institutions, in Nigeria, the colonial legacy bequeathed conditions ripe for exploitation by elites, which created extractive institutions of power, increasing the incentive for ambitious groups and individuals to take control of the state.  When, in 1960, it gained independence from the United Kingdom, its nationalist leadership opted to retain colonial borders and govern the country as a federated republic. However, the multiplicity of tribes and languages contained within its  colonial legacy of artificially drawn boundaries created the conditions where tribal loyalties surpassed  loyalty to the fledgling state. The outcome was a succession of military coups and dictatorship for twenty eight of its fortyseven years of political independence (Falola and Heathon, 2008; Ikejiaku, 2013). Successive  military regimes held in common their claimed intent to restore stability, end corruption, ensure free society and prepare the country for a transition to civilian rule. These same military dictatorships siphoned off billions of dollars of oil revenue, creating a culture of corruption that permeated society. In the course of the democratisation process, Nigeria’s military regimes proved themselves to be at least as irresponsible as the colonial administrators (Dike, 2014; Lewis, 2007; Omoweh, 1997).

Nigeria’s military regimes in these years and previous four democratic periods is well described by Thomas Paine’s, prescient 1809 definition of ‘mixed Government’ as, “imperfect in everything, cementing and soldering the discordant parts together by corruption, acting as a whole, until there is no responsibility: the parts cover each other till responsibility is lost; and the corruption which moves the machine, contrives at the same time its own escape” (p. 159). In this – era of dictatorship, military regimes were accountable only to themselves and remained out of touch with the everyday life of the average Nigerian (Dike, 2014; Folola, 2007; Olukotun, 2002). The Nigerian press remained the only means of checking the excesses of the military governments. The pre-1990s was a period of media monopoly where state and federal government owned the broadcast media.

The currency of power is particularly valuable in regimes with extractive political institutions. To ensure that power remains unchecked, and to control the gateways to economic riches, the elite are best able to serve their interests if the media can be enticed, cajoled and, if necessary, coerced into the role of a distraction medium, one that entertains rather than investigates, one that affirms rather than challenges government. Unchallenged power has no incentive to permit checks against its abuse – particularly in the form of television, and more recently, digital media – and every financial incentive not to, because it’s extractive political institutions are partly sustained through the trickledown influence of corruption. Consequently public service broadcasting’s role to inform, educate, entertain and mobilise citizens for active participation in civic and social duties was thwarted. Far from fulfilling their role as society’s watchdog,  broadcast media were used as the mouthpiece of government in power.

Within the print media sector, speaking truth concerning those in power entailed risk that only a very few were prepared to invite. The means by which civil society voices concern, and sets out political and economic agendas, was effectively silenced by draconian laws enacted by the Government. These illegal coercive measures included Decree No 4 of 1984, criminalising press reports exposing to ridicule an officer of the military Government, and offensive publication (proscription) Decree 35 of 1993, that empowered the president to ban or sanction any publication as he wished (Ojo, 2007; Olukotun, 2002). However, military rule ended abruptly in 1999, while privatisation of the broadcast sector had commenced in 1995. Nigeria’s return to democracy in the new millennium, after years of military dictatorship, even though imbued with cautious optimism, could only be expected to be a very gradual process.

1.1         Background of the study:

 

Media scholars have noted the inveterate weakness of its conventional media has sullied Nigerian political democracy as a form of government capable of paving the road to the Promised Land (Streets, 2001; Machesney, 1999). Consequently, the increased ubiquity and autonomy of new digital media has infused contemporary debates about shaping Africa’s democracy and good governance with renewed optimism  and it is suggested that the context of ICT use,  is capable of becoming a powerful influence in the realm of social development and good Governance across the continent. Western commentators have represented new ICT/digital media as tools capable of shaping myriad forms of political power, freedom development and social change in both developed and developing societies (Shirky, 2011; Benkler, 2006; Kahn and Kellner, 2005; Mudhai, 2013; Rheingold, 1993).

 

This assumption echoes the notion of technological determinism. Technological determinism holds that a society’s technology has a powerful influence, driving the development of its social structure and cultural values, shaping how individuals in a society think, feel, and act. The idea that technology drives human interaction and creates social change is not new. The question is not so much whether or not ICT can bring transformative shifts in society, so much as; what kind of transformative change will they bring? Realisation of the potential of ICT depends on political (censorship and other restrictions), infrastructural (ease of access) social (how they are used) and economic (are they affordable?) factors (Hellström 2008, 2010). The prerequisite for the success of such interventions is an enabling political environment that promotes and protects free speech.

 

However, a counter-argument against the reductionist technological deterministic view, points to the relevance of contextual elements in technology use. Any given technology’s’ effect depends, to some extent, on the social context. Social constructionists argue that context will influence technology’s adoption, and, if the technology is adopted, the social context will have important effects on how technology is used and thus on its ultimate impact.

 

Despite the fact that access to internet and digital technology is uneven and intermittent in many developing countries (Heeks, 2003; Fuchs and Horak, 2008), interestingly, many African countries have made good use of available digital resources. For example, recent studies show that more than 75% of mobile subscriptions worldwide are based in developing countries (International Telecommunication Union, 2012), and as such, a knowledge of the patterns of mobile use in these countries is helpful in understanding the antecedents to and outcomes of increasing mobile adoption (Pearce, 2013). Nigeria is a leading country in West Africa in terms of mobile phone use and internet penetration. The two are increasingly spreading across the country due to telecommunication deregulation and privatisation of mobile data services over recent years (NCC, 2013; Freedom House, 2014). Cultural and practical factors play their part in making mobile phones the most used digital technology. However, two keys factors are believed to have played a central role in the development of internet penetration in Nigeria. Government investment in infrastructure and the private sector increased competition between service providers (ITU, 2012; Thompson, 2015). It is against this background that the federal Ministry of Communications Technology set up a presidential committee in 2012, with the responsibility of developing a

National broadband plan to increase Nigeria’s broadband penetration fivefold by 2018 (Nkanga and Efem, 2011).

In 2012, internet penetration was 33 per cent, up from 28 per cent in 2011 according to the International telecommunication Union (ITU, 2012; Bohler-Muller and Merwe, 2011; Nurudeen, 2012). ICT usage in Nigeria is dominated by the mobile phone revolution which has led the number of active mobile phones to increase from almost zero in 2000 to over 117 million subscribers, or 84 per cent penetration, in March 2013 (Nigerian Communications Commission NCC, 2013). The latest ITU record of mobile phone subscriptions, and mobile phone penetration rate, is 68 per cent in 2012, up from 57 per cent in 2011 (ITU, 2012).About four million Nigerians use smart phones, six million people use  Facebook, and 50 million uses  the internet, – ranking the country 3rd largest in West Africa, and 36th in the world in ICT terms, thus making Nigeria one of the fastest growing mobile phone markets in the world (Adeiza, 2013; Informa Telecoms, 2013). A study conducted by ITU in conjunction with UNESCO revealed that mobile broadband has accelerated the number of internet users, and looks set to increase overall levels of penetration. However, the gap between aspiration and realisation, between legislation and its enactment in Nigerian politics raises the question of whether this widespread penetration and  access to technology  are guarantors of social change, as Howard and Park, (2012) have predicted? However, it is incontestable that it is not merely technology, but the opportunities and motivation to use and adapt to the technology that shapes attitudes and changes behaviours.

 

1.1.1    ICT and Social Media in Nigeria

While core political values resist change (Booth and Chambers, 2014) there is discernible unrest at the margin of Nigerian politics (Ogundimu, 2013 Saluwu, 2013). A brief account of the intersection between digital technology and two contemporary issues of concern – government subsidies and

Boko Haram – illustrate how ICT’s are becoming a staple of the political discourse.

The Government’s removal of the gasoline subsidy on 1st January 2012 caused  a sudden rise in the price of basic necessities, ranging from transport to foodstuffs. And the consequent public unrest was orchestrated on social media. Many Nigerians took to the streets to demand a reversal of the decision. Over the next two weeks, protests paralysed many cities, eventually forcing the Government to restore a partial subsidy.

The use of ICTs and social media was reportedly instrumental in the protests, galvanising divergent ethnic and religious groups in a rare show of unity (Kombol, 2014; Akinfemisoye, 2013; Chiluwa, 2012). The protests were successful in that information sharing among educated Nigerians via social media greatly increased, and several corruption probes into the petroleum industry were instigated, even if the findings of such probes were never implemented.

Evidence that the use of social media in Nigeria both amplifies and trivialises issues of concern, is found in the former president Goodluck Jonathan’s inappropriate use of the hashtag# bringbackourgudluck2015. Initially, the rubric #bringbackourgirls was used as a campaign slogan on social media applications, particularly Facebook and Twitter, to show concern about the fate of 200 girls abducted by the Islamist Group Boko Haram. The slogan #bringbackourgirls was used by citizens, social groups and civil society organisations campaigning for the release of the missing girls. The hash tag campaign raised global awareness of the plight of the missing girls, and also highlighted the government’s failure to rescue them. While it focused attention on the crime, it also focused public attention on the government’s inability to remedy their plight.  The emergence of Boko Haram can be interpreted as a microcosm of Nigerian frailty and failings. It began as a peaceful movement, calling for the adoption of a purer form of Islam while criticising government corruption. But since 2000 – in response to military brutality, jihadist ideology, and the passivity of the federal government- and lacking an institutional or representative gateway, it has developed into a terrorist group and become a rebuke to government ineptitude (Smith 2015).

Supporters of the president began using #bringbackourgudluck2015 as part of his political campaigning. The hash tag was appropriated for cynical political purposes.  President Jonathan subsequently disowned the ham-fisted attempt to raise his public profile which miscalculated how public opinion can be swayed, and how instantly the Twitter grapevine can turn to outrage. This use of #bringbackourgudluck2015 was counter-productive and short-sighted. Rue and Sundarajan,

(2014) described its use as ‘external visibility’, – it attracted global attention, but in Nigeria, the episode spawned rich satire among Nigerians on social media, while suggesting a lack of sophistication on the part of the publicist’s use of the internet.

These and other incidents, track the shifting ethos of online journalism from objectivity to a greater emphasis on participation and authenticity, which is better suited to the values of community media. It resonates with a mistrust of institutional power and locates authenticity in the diversity of voices who debate it- educated urban elites, government departments, media organisations and agencies – rather than the political masters of institutional power. Although the process is gradual, these groups already perceive information and communication technologies (ICTs) as mouthpieces for the expression of their goals, and as tools to assist them in the struggle for improved national democracy. The assumption of this study is that ICTs do not replace existing media networks and face to face communication, but add to and supplement them, thus ICTs in this study refers to both new and old media. This study explores ICT and social media usage to assess how, and under what circumstances, ICT and digital media impact on Nigerian society, despite the Government’s attitude to control of the media and in particular its attempts at controlling the internet.

 

 

 

1.2         Research problem

 

ICTs are increasingly relevant to the basic right of communication, and also an aid to protecting  human  rights  in  general  because  of  the  opportunity  they  present  in  terms of information dissemination and freedom of expression (UN Human Right Council, 2015). Conversely, ICT media are also seen as undermining authoritative accurate verifiable reporting because the uncertain provenance of articles based on hearsay or plagiarism poses a challenge to veracity, and therefore, the creation of a well-informed audience, while conventional journalism  relies on persistence and objectivity to separate fact from fiction (McPherson, 2015; Fuchs, 2015). This issue of provenance and objectivity has been widely debated among Information Systems scholars. There remains insufficient understanding among internet researchers about the role ICTs could play in addressing societal problems in underdeveloped countries and in terms of the risk they pose to the societies in those countries (Fuchs, 2014; Fortunati, 2014; Loader and Mercea, 2012; Morozov, 2011).

These debates are pertinent in Nigeria’s context where semi-literate and literate citizens capitalise on limited ICT opportunities to make their voices heard in an irregular and elite dominated mass media landscape. But the impact on  Nigeria’s complex society and political institutions remains a work in progress, partly because access to ICT continues to expand from a low base-line, and partly because ICT’s utility is contingent upon  how, why and whether Nigerians  can access them in sufficient numbers at affordable prices. In African countries, including Nigeria, one must search for an explanation for the stunted impact of the role of the new communication technologies (Gagliardone et al, 2014; Ufuoma, 2014)

Studies show that inequitable media ownership patterns, pressure and politics continue to challenge the role of the new mass media in deepening good governance in Nigeria (Omenugha, 2013; Okoro, 2013; Chiluwa, 2011). Some Western scholars perceive ICT as a catalyst for the correction of the hegemony of the national media in developing nations. However, this technological deterministic assumption fails to capture the complexity of how governance processes work in Nigeria and the different spaces which ICTs can fill. One can safely argue that media monopoly, censorship, privatisation and commercialisation of the media characterise the old media especially the press in Nigeria, with an increased threat to journalism as a profession (Willems, 2011 p 47; Djankov, 2013; Elliott et al forthcoming). Most recently, internet and mobile shutdown has gone hand in glove with violations of human rights in the digital era.

 

The Nigerian government’s privatisation of the broadcast media and telecommunication industry ostensibly promotes multiple choice within conventional news media, supposedly unrestricted online activities have raised suspicions about government surveillance initiatives. Surveillance increased following reports about the installation of a mass surveillance system and revelations that the 2014 budget contained various earmarked funds for the purchase of specialized surveillance equipment (Freedom House, 2014) and partnership with an Israeli surveillance firm.

In Africa where there are competing demands for scarce funding and inadequate infrastructure, it is not always easy to map out where ICT has made enabling contributions to development aims. Thompson calls for a reorientation in ICT developmental studies in Africa and advocates for a focus on ‘developmental ICT’ as opposed to ‘ICT for developing countries’. By developmental ICT he means the conception, development, implementation, and use of ICT as an explicit vehicle for furthering development aims – where ICT is contextualized and functions as an enabling artefact, and an enabler of a set of social behaviours (Thompson, 2008). This approach would involve a more strategic engagement with policymakers. Within this conception, he warns that for clarity of study, attentions should be paid to the developmental benefits in deploying ICT whilst justifying value for money spent on ICT initiatives such as the e-Government (Wade, 2002; Ciborra, 2003).

 

Looking at the literature, it is evident that studies with the aforementioned focus are scanty and this research aims to fill  this important gap. Hence it explores the concept of ICT for development in Nigeria. Few or no studies have been conducted to critically appraise the multi-perspectives of ICT within the context of power and social media use for political engagements in Africa’s largest democracy. This study explores how, where and under what circumstance ICT and digital media impacts on Nigeria’s society with specific focus on Governance. Hence, the study focuses on how new ICTs are deployed within the framework of the capability approach. It explores the concept of technology for development amidst multiple complexities identified in the literature on ICT for development (Blake and Quiros, 2010). This includes  an assessment of the concepts of freedom and participation to arrive  at a comprehensive understanding of how  the media and new media is controlled.

 

1.3          Nature of inquiry

 

This study engages with  globalist liberal outlooks on the construction of relationships between the State, Governments, democracy, and development of both new mass media and ICTs (Curran 2011;

Fenton 2012; McChesney, 2013; Freedman, 2014). This engagement poses theoretical and empirical challenges in Africa (Coleman, 2015; Freedman, 2014; Fuchs, 2014; Williams, 2014; Mercea and Loader, 2012; Mudhai, 2013; Wasserman, 2011). Drawing upon technological determinist  and social constructivist theories of technology, the study takes into account both optimistic and pessimistic configurations of the use of ICT and new media, and their relationship with a true information society. With specific attention to contemporary debates about social media, issues raised are couched in the language of power theories, which have their origin in Marx, Gramsci and Foucault. Of particular interest is the work of Professor Christian Fuchs, a prominent critical internet scholar who criticises new ICT scholars for failing to ask critical questions in their research (Fuchs, 2012; 2014).

Liberal democratic theories and participation anchored in the theoretical exposition of James Stuart

Mill, and Carole Peteman provide a philosophical backdrop informing debate and discussion in

Nigeria. Other supplementary theories considered are the Human development Capability Model (HCDA), (Sen, 1991); of media use in political communications, and e-Government theories. It is in the context of these theories that the study explores Western and Global Meta narratives, and their influence on the local debate in Nigeria. (See Chapter Two).

 

The study sheds light on community radio and its theoretical aspect, and illustrates how discourses about community radio, development and democracy intersect, and critically examines how community radio development has been restricted in the Nigerian context (Mudhai, 2011; Gagliardone et al, 2014;). Section one of Chapter Three explicitly examines community radio development and how it poses a community based threat to unchecked power. In conjunction with mobile phones, Community radio makes connections between listeners and issues of local concern, amplifying and sharpening grassroots discontent by targeting specific campaigns to improve services.  The use of mobile phones in partnership with radio programmes, even in the absence of community radio, allows the public to become a principal protagonist in radio broadcasting, but commercial radio lacks the underlying set of community values which places the public good before profit. Informed by values associated with grassroots communities and other civil society organisations, countries such as Benin, Cameroon, Ghana and the Gambia have made significant progress in reducing imbalances between city and countryside and making freedom of expression more of a reality (AMARC 2008). Community Radio is an integral part of an ongoing and evolving process,

It is clear that, used in conjunction and cooperation with mobile phone owners, community radio rewrites notions of media ownership as they apply in Nigeria. It also extends and amplifies the notion of community. The traditional community becomes much bigger, covering a much larger area, extending access and community participation. The new digital media used in talk shows and discussion programs in the UK and elsewhere increasingly encourage audience participation through whichever medium is available and affordable. In the Nigerian context, this is the mobile phone, and much more so than in Europe for example, networks or virtual communities are a mix of the written and spoken word. Nigeria is an oral society .The proof of the power of Nigeria’s potential to adapt ICT’s in its own image –the image of an oral society – is found in the

Government’s stonewalling and eventual obstruction of Community Radio. Chapter Three sets out the detail.

1.4         Research question

In this research the researcher is guided by this core statement:

Research Question: What role, if any, can ICTs play in shaping and empowering grassroots democratic e-governance in Nigeria?

The central research question is further broken down into three sub questions.

Sub Question 1: How have Nigeria’s policymakers’ contextualized ICT innovations and social media use for political engagements in view of freedom of expression and democratic processes in Nigeria?

Sub Question 2: From the policymakers’ perspectives what are the possible challenges and risk identified with the deployment of ICT innovations for development in Nigeria and what are their strategic approach to capability assessment of ICT use in Nigeria?

Sub Question 3: What drive social media use for political participation in Nigeria and in what way can the identified factors be used to promote good governance, transparency, accountability and social reform?

1.5         Research aim

The  research aims to study the ongoing debate about use of new ICTs/social media to explore its impact in Nigerian society and suggest possible solutions in regards to the usage.

1.6          Research objectives

 The main objectives of this study are:

1. To carry out detailed literature review of the concept of new ICTs and social media and their relevance in strengthening and developing free democratic society.
2. To assess Nigeria’s current new mass media deployment within the context of ICT for development as a means of understanding the perspectives of emergence of new ICTs and social media within the concept of e-Government.
3. To understand factors militating against ICT use for e-governance, political participation and proffer workable solutions to relative challenges, and risks that may be associated with the use of new ICTs and social media within the set frame.

1.7          Methodology

This study has applied critical research in an interpretive style. Its epistemological and ontological premises are based on the understanding that reality is socially constructed (interpretive). The inquiry goes beyond everyday life to include a critical perspective of power relations. Approaches adopting this paradigm are useful to investigate  the social role IT plays,  its uses and consequences (Markus and Silver 2008; Klein and Myers, 1999; 2011). Taking into account the optimist – pessimist dichotomy of views on the information society, the study takes a dialectical approach to answer the central research question i.e. “what role (if any) ICT and social media play in shaping grass root democratic participation”? It takes into account different kinds of informationality (or digitality), in different settings, alongside specific political agencies, meaningful political participation, individual and societal capacity, institutional arrangements and cultural context (Srinvisan, 2007; Fukuda Parr, 2003; Sen 1991).

Mixed method approach is grounded in field work and observations; 20 interviews were conducted and supplemented by fifty questionnaires. Purposive sampling is used as a sampling method. The methodological approach provides in depth explanations on the contribution ICT and social media make to political participation in Nigeria, and discusses Government attempts at internet censorship.

1.8          Limitation

       This research was limited by necessity to Nigerian urban elites. Nigeria is a country of 170 million population with 500 different ethnicities, many of who have high illiteracy rates. Citizens’ activities online such as liking a Facebook posting or tweeting/ retweeting a post does not necessarily allude to active citizenship engagement – especially in a country such as Nigeria, where its 28 per cent Internet penetration is reflective of economic  and social welfare distribution. Also, the presentations of figures and graphs in the Nvivo software used for analysis in chapter five  are not visibly clear due to limitation of the software.

1.9         Justification

Marshall McLuhan, described politics as “solving today’s problems with yesterday’s tools” (Curran, 2011 p 98). One significant question this study attempts to answer is; can we solve some of today’s problems with the tools that we use every single day of our lives? Or do we need yesterday’s media to solve the problems of today’s media and facilitate social change? After all, in much of rural Africa, before the radio became the medium of choice, it is only a couple of generations since information was sent and received from village to village by messenger, or the horn and beating drum rang out to inform adjacent villages of an impending event or noteworthy news, much as the church bell had in late medieval Europe (De Masi, 2011). Today, technology has taken on a leading role in determining predictions about the progress of development in Africa. The extent to which African countries will be affected by these ICT innovations is unclear in that, availability of technology is intermittent and there is limited access to the internet in most African countries. The question remains whether ICT related media will help develop Nigeria’s democracy and  whether it will help create new forms of citizenship.

ICTs are not consensual objects with an agreed set of characteristics and possible effects, but resources, subject to tension and associated with scarcity, which can be appropriated or resisted by different actors to pursue potentially competing goals; government spokesmen and local activists may present conflicting interpretations of how well a particular service is delivered (Gagliardone et al 2014). The technology that compares to the mobile phone in terms of pervasiveness and accessibility in Nigeria is the radio. Together, literally hand in hand, they can “serve as a broaddistribution participatory media network, with some of the same citizen media dynamics of the

Internet, but accessible to a much wider, and non-literate audience”. (Zuckerman, 2007, cited in Gagliardone et al 2014). The adoption of 21st century technology by  what remains a fractured and still tribal society and to what uses it is put , the likelihood of  Nigeria ‘tweeting its way to what is known as digital democracy is arguably remote.  However, in depth assessment remain problematic (Akinfemisoye, 2013; Wilade, 2013). Rather than transplant patterns of European use, Nigeria is more likely to adapt new technologies to its own needs, and learn, by its own mistakes, how to fashion ICT to its own needs. Whether the impact of ICT will translate into meaningful change or have an affect only at the margins will depend on whether a broad based movement mobilizes and organizes, not to take control of extractive institutions, but to transform them into more inclusive ones. Certainly this is a topic that requires on-going research.

1.10       Contribution to knowledge

From the debates developed so far regarding ICTs, social change and democratic participation, it is not clear whether on the whole digital media in particular are tools of domination or tools of empowerment. This uncertainty is addressed and the contribution to the body of knowledge is the finding that still nascent ICT and digital media threaten the virtual government monopoly on sources of information production, and therefore threaten unchecked power and extractive institutions.  The process and direction of Nigeria’s potential to adapt ICT’s in its own image –the image of an oral society – is in development. However, the way Nigerians communicate and interact, has arguably strengthened connections between civil society organisations, the media and public officials. As a result of the change in communication, cell phone applications, social network sites and blogs have become  potential of means of empowerment for literate citizens, and, in the case of mobile phone use combined with local radio, a ubiquitous and trusted medium in rural Nigeria for  semi-literate citizens.

An assurance was given to the researcher by the incumbent president – President Muhammadu Buhari – that upon completion of this study, a proposal should be submitted to enable the licensing of community radio in rural areas. This consideration may have been influenced by the researcher bringing to the attention of the head of state, that Nigeria remains the only country in the West African sub-region that has not yet licensed any community radio services, even though the Nigerian Broadcasting Code recognizes this sector and has accepted United Nations funding to implement it (UNESCO 2012). If the President remains true to his word, the licensing of community radio stations could  rekindle what Mudhai, (2011) calls a ‘radio culture’ boosted by social networking sites through the internet and mobile phones.

1.11     Structure of the thesis

Chapter One: This covers the general overview of the study, it has presented the rationale for conducting the research, the methodological approach to the research.

Chapter Two: Covers the theoretical benchmarks guiding the study. The chapter is divided into two main sections. The first section discusses theoretical orientations – technological determinism and social constructivism, and different frameworks for assessing developmental outcomes of ICTs. The second section recaps the major contemporary debates about social media and how they apply to power and democratic theories. Other theories discussed include communication theories, eGovernment theory, and conceptualisation of the Human Capability Development Approach.

Chapter Three: Drawing upon power and democratic theories discussed in chapter two, chapter three is divided into three main sections with subsequent sub-sections. In Section one, some core elements of these theories are employed to contextualise Nigeria’s historical background in relation to institutionalised elites , Nigeria’s hegemonic media institutions, restriction or censorship of mass media with particular attention to the stifling of community radio . In addition, the section also sheds light on threats to journalism and corrupt practices. (Community radio discussed in Section One Chapter three).

Section two builds on the previous section and takes into account the optimistic perspective of ICT researchers as a benchmark to investigate perceptions and insights into the role ICT could play in addressing irregularities in Nigeria’s media. The section is divided into two sub-sections. Subsection one is concerned with theoretical debates about the concept of Web 2.0 and social media and their political uses.

Sub-section two contextualises e-Government literature to investigate if the use of social media applications complements the services of e-Government.  This also covers other roles ICTs and social media could play outside the realm of e-Government services, such as election processes.  Building on the previous section which provided some insights in what the media could do to empower the society (the techno-optimist view), the third section of Chapter Three examines the techno pessimist perspective who argue that  digital media is a Trojan Horse posing  threats to citizens rather than opening opportunities. The focus is on Government attempts to monitor citizens’ use of media.

 

Chapter Four: This chapter is concerned with research methods, and justification of the chosen research paradigm and research methods data collection, and qualitative data analysis techniques. Critical paradigm in an interpretive is chosen as the guiding paradigm. (Chapter four covers indepth discussion).

 

Chapter Five: This chapter presents the findings of the interview and questionnaire analysis. The themes identified were captured using Nvivo software through a matrix query represented in graphs, and graphical charts in this chapter represent the perceptions and opinion in the questionnaire findings.

Chapter Six: This chapter presents findings from the interviews and discussion of the themes identified, and also those of the questionnaire as complementary to the findings of the interview.

Chapter Seven: The final chapter presents the conclusion, recommendations and suggestions for further research.

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE AND DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES BY GOVERNMENT AND EMERGING POLITICAL LEADERS –THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE

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