The Social Media and the Trajectory of Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria: An Exposition

Publication Date : 01/01/2020

Author(s) :

Uabor Elanor.

Volume/Issue :

Volume 1

Issue 1

(01 - 2020)

Abstract :

One quest that states in Africa and the developing world at large have been battling with is the desire to consolidate their democracies. Nigeria has had her fair share of this quest as she continues to seek consolidation with very minimal success recorded. While consolidating a democracy might seem a herculean task, it can become a possibility within the shortest time frame if the right keys are applied. This work looks at the experiences, contributions and challenges of the social media to the democratic consolidation process in Nigeria. There is no doubt the fact that there is a nexus between the social media and democratic consolidation in Nigeria. The concern in this narrative is to ascertain the nature of relations between the duo, either it be positive or negative. This is the core foci of this research activity. The paper draws anchorage from two theories which are technological determinism and mobilization theories. The main thrust of this research paper is to ascertain the role the social media plays in the consolidation or otherwise of Nigeria’s democracy with the objective of examining the social media with a view to ascertaining its impacts on democratic consolidation in Nigeria. This research adopts a qualitative research method with a view to eliciting information from evidence derived from secondary sources by retrieving data from books, journal articles, conference papers amongst a plethora of others. It has been discovered that the social media is a two edged sword which can have either positive or negative impact on the nations democracy. The paper revealed that the social media has played a very significant role in Nigeria’s democratic experience especially since the fourth republic and if properly harnessed it can aid Nigeria attain speedy consolidation of her democracy. It however sounds a caveat on the unregulated use of the social media.