A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF ELECTRICITY IN NIGERIA

1.1 Introduction

Electricity newspaper coverage is a media attention given based on electricity usage, bills and tariff by newspapers intended to reach a large audience by mass communication. Electricity is vital for the development of any nation as it plays an important role in areas ranging from the provision of health, financial, agricultural and educational services to the production of industrial and consumer goods and services. Even though Nigeria has been rated as having the largest economy in Africa, the country still suffers from the problem of inadequate electrical power supply. Nigeria is blessed with vast reserves of fossil fuel and this serves as her primary source of electric power generation (World Bank, 2017) with electricity. However, the reality is that only about 59.3% of its populations have access to both fossil fuel-sourced and renewable energy-derived electricity (Tradingeconomics, 2019; Olaniyan et al., 2018).

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

Newspapers are the only general mass media that carry regular information about electricity usage in Nigeria. Newspapers in Nigeria still reach 22% of Nigeria’s 40 million daily mass media audience (Bello, 2015). One of the major energy challenges in the world today is ensuring access to clean and sustainable energy in developing countries. International Energy Agency IEA (2010) estimated that in 2008 about 1.4 billion people in the world lacked access to electricity of which 587 million were in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Most of these people live in rural areas. The lack of access to electricity poses a significant barrier to achieving the millennium development goals (MDGs).

Studies have shown that there is a high correlation between annual per capita electricity consumption and human development index (Meisen & Akin, 2008). The government of these countries faces the Herculean task of providing access to electricity to improve the living standard of the populace because the availability of electricity stimulates economic activities. The situation is not different in Nigeria. In 2008, about 53% of Nigerians lacked access to electricity (WHO/UNDP, 2009), although at the different geopolitical zones, the situation is significantly different. It has been observed that the lack of electricity access is more severe in the northern parts of Nigeria with the North-East geopolitical zone having 71.6%.

Co-incidentally, the North-East geopolitical zone lags behind other zones in other socio-economic indices like literacy level, access to health care, maternal mortality, access to clean water etc (UNFPA, 2008). Given the importance of electricity access to the socio-economic development of a country at micro and macro levels, in August 2010, the Nigerian government set the target of 80% electricity coverage by 2015 in the Roadmap to Power Sector Reforms (Jonathan, 2010).

As electricity utility has been privatized, providing electricity for these rural dwellers implies constructing transmission and distribution lines to reach the communities. However, extending the transmission and distribution a line is capital intensive, as such, it is considered only when it is cost-beneficial.

All of Nigeria’s 24 national newspapers are privately underlying studies in media coverage is the prime importance of the media in shaping public perception on critical social matters such as renewable energy. Public perception, in turn, can influence government policy (Agbongiarhuoyi, 2015). Interest in media coverage also arises from concerns that media reports can be open to political, economic, and owned, and this also has implications for coverage of non-core political news in an industry driven largely by commercial motives (Boykoff et al., 2007; Ugwuanyi, 2016).

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Newspaper Coverage of Electricity.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that erratic power supply has remained a major problem in Nigeria which is affecting the socio-economy of the nation. Nigeria is still using out-dated cumbersome machines and systems compared to the trends of new technology.

Therefore, the study seeks to look at the problems encountered by nations electricity power supply to various sectors. Also it seeks to assess the reportage of the two national dailies, The Daily Trust and Leadership Newspapers on the issue of power supply on the Nigeria economy, institution of learning and area of health delivery.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to comparatively analyze the Newspaper Coverage of Electricity in Nigeria. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To assess the extent to which Daily Trust and Leadership cover news on the impact of electricity on institution of learning;
2. To ascertain the attention that has been given to the coverage of news on the impact of electricity on health delivery; and
3. To identify how often Daily Trust and Leadership newspapers have covered news on the impact of electricity on Nigeria economy.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• How often do Daily Trust and Leadership newspapers cover news on the impact of electricity on Nigeria economy?
• To what extent have the two newspapers covered the impact of electricity on institutions of learning?
• How much attention has been given to the coverage of news on the impact of electricity on health delivery by the two newspapers?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: Daily Trust and Leadership newspaper does not cover vital news on the impact of electricity on Nigeria economy
• H1: Daily Trust and Leadership newspaper covers vital news on the impact of electricity on Nigeria economy

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1.7 Significance of Study

The relevance of this research showcased that media helps to carry out information to citizens of particular societies and it also functions as mass media performs in Nigeria. The researcher tends to highlight the coverage by newspapers given to national power sector. Mass media especially the print, newspaper plays a major role in informing the citizens on the issue of power sector in the country. This study is significant to Nigeria society because it will help in making Nigeria mass media to play its role in promoting communication sector, it also unravel the reasons why journalist need to put more emphasis in their work in order to attain the certain objectives.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the Comparative Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of Electricity in Nigeria. The research work is restricted to the coverage of the impact of electricity on Nigeria economy, in the Daily Trust and Leadership newspapers. The period of coverage is between January and May 2015.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Definition of Key Terms

Newspaper: The newspaper is described as a collection of folded printed sheet of papers published periodically, usually daily or weekly for circulating news.

Coverage: Media attention given to an event or topic by newspapers, radio, and television in their reporting.

Electricity: Physics energy created by moving charged particle, a fundamental form of kinetic or potential energy created by free or controlled movement of charged particles such as electrons, positrons and irons.