Investigating the Influence of Social Media on Youth Engagement in the August 2024 #EndBadGovernance Protests in Nigeria

Andrew Ubong Bassey
Additional contact information
Andrew Ubong Bassey: Department of Mass Communication, Nasarawa State University, Keffi

Technium Social Sciences Journal, 2024, vol. 61, issue 1, 91-101

Abstract: Social media has emerged as a significant platform for political, economic, and social dialogue worldwide, acting as a vehicle for self-expression and a means to hold political leaders accountable. In Nigeria, platforms such as Facebook, X, WhatsApp, and Instagram have played a crucial role in the organisation and mobilisation of protests. This study explores the impact of social media on youth participation in the August 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests in Nigeria. Using the public sphere theory, the research adopted a quantitative survey approach, collecting data from 300 respondents across the six Area Councils of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The results reveal that social media was instrumental in mobilising and engaging young people during the protests. Prominent themes discussed on social media included the high cost of living, reversal of the fuel subsidy removal, investigation of the fuel subsidy regime, reduction in electricity tariffs, high cost of governance, corruption, deficiencies in educational and healthcare systems, unemployment, insecurity, and widespread poverty. This study highlights social media's dual function as both a catalyst for mobilisation and a tool for organisational coordination. It is recommended that public training on the responsible use of social media be implemented to maximise its effectiveness in civic engagement.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://techniumscience.com/index.php/socialsciences/article/view/11624 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tec:journl:ojs:11624

DOI: 10.47577/tssj.v61i1.11624

Access Statistics for this article

Technium Social Sciences Journal is currently edited by Tasente Tanase

More articles in Technium Social Sciences Journal from Technium Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tasente Tanase ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).