This study evaluated the extent to which married Idoma (Benue State) and Igala people (Kogi State) in North-Central Nigeria were exposed to the 2017 National Family Planning Communication Campaigns. The study also examined their level of knowledge, the extent to which they adopted the campaign messages, and how Alekwu/Ibegwu and other socio-cultural factors influenced their level of adoption of the campaign messages. The study adopted a quantitative (questionnaire survey) research method. The data were subjected to a descriptive analysis, correlation, ANOVA, Pearson Product Movement Correlation (PPMC), and Binary Logistics Regression. The findings showed that the majority of the people were exposed to information on condoms, implants, and Intrauterine Contraceptive Devices (IUCDs) (Cuppar T) in the course of the campaign; however, most of them were not exposed to information on Oral Pills, Vasectomies, Tubal ligation and Injections. Findings also revealed that knowledge of modern family planning in the study areas (51.2%) was below the 85.8% national family planning knowledge threshold and far below the expected 95% target of the 2017–2020 family planning communication campaign goal. Findings equally showed poor adoption of the campaign messages due to their cultural beliefs. The study concluded that family planning was often accepted among people whose ways of life have been significantly altered in favour of the idea.
This paper interrogated The Channels TV Facebook audiences’ discourse on selected top five farmer-herder violent conflicts related news stories from January 1st to July 31st, 2018 in Nigeria. We specifically examined how the audience enacted, reproduced, and/or resisted social power abuse and dominance in their discourses on the selected news stories and their act of stancetaking. We did this by drawing on Van Dijk’s principles of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Du Bois’s acts of stancetaking. We analyzed 84 (out of the 500) comments and images that directly or indirectly made reference to Fulani Ethnic Group (FEG). Finding revealed that besides lack of access to discourse control by FEG; online audiences’ discourses were crafted to enact or reproduce socio dominance against FEG using the strategies of generalized “positive self-representation” and “negative representation of Others.” Findings also showed that the commenters aligned with and amplified existing stances like Fulanization/Islamization, political conspiracy, leadership failure, and the need to disintegrate the country into smaller governable sizes in their comments. We therefore concluded that such thread of discourse that generalized criminal acts of few individuals on the entire ethnic group could be inimical to the nation’s goal of national integration, security objectives, and continued peaceful and harmonious co-existence among various ethnic groups in Nigeria and therefore called for further investigation into why the online audiences approached the issues as they did in their discourses.
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