THE PERCEPTION OF UNIBEN STUDENTS

This study assessed the perception of University of Benin (UNIBEN) students on broadcast media reportage of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. The study examined students’ level of exposure to broadcast media coverage, their engagement with such content, perceived credibility and reliability of broadcast information, and the extent to which media exposure influences their awareness and understanding of the policy agenda. The study was anchored on the Agenda Setting Theory and Uses and Gratifications Theory as its theoretical framework. A descriptive survey research design was adopted, and data were collected from 387 validly retrieved questionnaires administered to UNIBEN students. Findings revealed that respondents are highly exposed to broadcast media coverage of the Renewed Hope Agenda, with television and radio identified as dominant sources of information. The study further showed frequent engagement with broadcast content, indicating that students regularly consume broadcast reports on government programmes. Results also indicated that broadcast media play a significant role in shaping students’ awareness of the Renewed Hope Agenda, as a majority of respondents acknowledged that their understanding of the policy is largely influenced by broadcast media reports. However, the influence of media exposure was found to be relatively uneven across respondents, suggesting variations in access, interpretation, and reliance on alternative information sources such as social media and interpersonal communication. The study concludes that broadcast media remain a major instrument of political communication and public enlightenment among UNIBEN students. The study recommends sustained and structured coverage of government programmes by broadcast media, strengthened collaboration between government communication units and media organisations, simplified presentation of policy information, and the introduction of media literacy programmes in universities to enhance critical understanding of broadcast content.

This study examined the perception of Uniben students on the role of social media in the fight against corruption in Nigeria. It analyses how the social media is functional as a tool that gives citizens of a geographical area the opportunity to act proactively against corruption by serving as a platform through which citizens could publicly identifyloopholes that exist in the system. The objective of this research includes to find out if the social media helps tackle corruption and how often issues of corruption have been exposed on social media. The researcher employed survey research methodology of which questionnaires were served to respondents to generate details for this research. With the data gathered for the research, findings revealed that issues of corruption are usually exposed by the social media with 55% of respondents who affirmed that they have seen issues of corruption being exposed online before. Also, 58% of the respondents supports that social media helps to tackle corruption while 59% of the total respodents agree to the fact that social media exposes ills and irregularities in government. With findings from this research work, it was concluded that social media is a viable tool for fight against corruption because it provides an opportunity for political participation and freedom of expression compared to the traditional media.