Terrorism and Businesses in North East: Implications for Economic Growth in Nigeria (Published)
Since the beginning and escalation of terrorism, various sectors of the economy have been affected as a result of the negative peace and fatalities associated with the Boko Haram terrorism. The situation has caused rapid inflation and decline in the availability of basic human needs. Containing the threat and related displacements has been challenging to the state security providers, who are also affected by the Boko Haram activities. This study examines the implications of terrorism for business activities in North-eastern Nigeria. Apart from direct attack on businesses, the activities of terrorists are inimical to economic growth. Consequently, most displaced people have continued to suffer malnutrition. This paper argues that timely containment of the terror is the only way to save the economy from total collapse. This requires the joint military task force to stop the terrorists from snatching vehicles loaded with foodstuffs on the highway, burning of villages and mounting of road blocks.
Keywords: Boko Haram, Businesses., Terrorism, northeast
Media Depiction of Sufferers/Victims of Boko Haram Attacks in Nigeria and Audience Response (Published)
This study employs focus group discussion to explore the Nigerian audiences’ reactions and responsibilities to the suffering images of victims of the Boko Haram. The study further utilizes two audience practices, which are media witnessing and moral responsibility as its theoretical frameworks. It extends to the position of audiences as witnesses to the mediated images and their actions towards events witnessed. Extant literature suggests that in depicting the suffering victims, the media plays a number of roles in engaging and connecting audiences to the suffering of others. Scholars have also argued that factors such as distance, gender and culture contribute to or influence how audiences respond to the depicted images of suffering victims on the media. Compelled by these factors identified by Western scholars, this study weighed their authenticity within the Nigerian context. No known study has empirically measured this in Nigeria. This study is an attempt to bridge that gap. The finding of this study reinforces earlier findings that viewers of suffering victims tend to show compassion towards ameliorating the conditions of the sufferers. On the contrary, this study finds that Nigerian audiences feel pity and compassionate towards the suffering victims despite their gender and lack of proximity. While this finding may not have ‘charted a new territory’, it has demonstrated that reaction to media messages is culturally relative.
Keywords: Audiences’ response, Boko Haram, Media Depiction, Media Witnessing, Suffering, responsibility
Communication Audit of Cable News Network (Cnn) Online Reports on Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria (2012-2016) (Published)
Previous studies on conflict reportage in Nigeria had accused Western media of inclinations for feeding the people with inaccurate and contradictory reports. This study was predicated on the need to investigate the patterns and trends of the Cable News Network (CNN’s) online reports on Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria over a period of five years, 2012-2016. The study adopted the content analysis method of research and conducted a census of 58 online reports on Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria as obtained from Cable News Network website (http://edition.cnn.com/text=boko+haram). While direction of reports, sources of report, prominence, balance and report genre provided content categories for the study, the Cronbach Alpha test was adopted for inter-coder reliability. The study found high prominence on CNN’s online reports of Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. There was high level imbalance in CNN’s online reports on Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. The study found low level of objectivity in CNN’s online reports on Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. It was also established that CNN made use of only one source of information in her reports on Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. The study found out that the straight news genre dominated CNN’s online reports on Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. Finally, the study showed that CNN’s online reports on Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria did conform to the allegation of information distortion leveled against Western Media. The researchers then recommended diversification of information sources, combination of report genres and fortification of conflict reporters as measures that would enhance accuracy, objectivity and fairness in conflict reportage.
Keywords: Audit, Boko Haram, Cable News Network, Insurgency, Nigeria, Online Reports, communication