THE NEW MEDIA, YOUTH MOBILIZATION AND INSECURITY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to examine the relationship between the new media, youth mobilization and insecurity in Nigeria. The study was anchored on gratification theory (UGT) and Technological determinism theory (TDT) as its theoretical framework. The study adopted the survey research design, the sample size is one hundred and twenty (120); purposive sampling technique was used in the study drawn from the population of students of the faculty of social sciences of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education. The major instruments used in generating data for this study were questionnaires, observations and interview. The collected data were analyzed using simple percentages. The study findings are as follows: (i) That there’s a relationship between the new media, youth mobilization and insecurity in Nigeria (ii) that facebook causes more insecurity than other social networks (iii) that the new media aid the youths to be much conscious of their environment and thus influences their decision (iv) that the new media serves as a tool for social change against corruption and bad governance. Based on the above, the following recommendations were made: (i) That there’s need for transparency and good leadership to address the issues of the masses, (ii) the need for awareness campaign on the dangers of negative effects of the new media to national development (iii) government should sponsor criminologist and law enforcement agents abroad to be trained with new technological skills, (iv) that this research be extended and the scope broadens, deepened and widened. A number of references were finally made for further review