Abstract
This study was carried out to examine the roles of social media on national security from
Nigerian perspective. The result of the study showed that the common forms of social media that
Nigerians are exposed to are Facebook, Whatsapp, 2go and Twitter. From the study, it was
observed that the social media is a principal player in the area of national security in Nigeria. It
can also be as an effective surveillance of the environment, conveying information on security
issues in Nigeria, creating a highly interactive platform for discussing security challenges and
unveiling areas of individuals and entities that may likely constitute a breach to national security.
The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. Using the purposive and
simple random sampling, one hundred occupations relating to media and security, around
Nigeria were selected for the study. Questionnaire, as primary instrument for data collection
were randomly distributed among the respondents.
1.1 Background to the Study
National security borders on incidence that endangers human existence or welfare (Ali,
2013). Nigeria’s national security means the protection of the lives, rights, dignity and property
of its citizens (Ibagere, 2010). It is also the protection of its resources, cultural integrity, territory,
sovereignty and lawful institutions of the country (Wali, 2012). National security encompasses
freedom from danger or threats to a nation’s stability to protect itself, promote its cherished
values and legitimate interest, and enhance the well-being of its people (Nwanegbo and Odigbo,
2013). The aim of national security is to secure the just and equitable living conditions for all the
citizens of the country and of peace for human life.
Suffice to say, communication is central to human life as it sustains and maintains human
relationship and social interaction. It is the transfer of information from one person, context or
group to another (Giddens et al., 2005). According to Robins (2005), communication is a definite
process involving the source or sender encoding of cues or prompts, message or purpose through
a channel or medium of transmission to the decoder or the receiver so as to provide a feedback.
In essence, communicators often consider which appropriate channel (s) or medium to use in
order to reach a given target audience and one of such channels is the internet (Ebner et al.,
2010).
Social media, as a means of communication are computer-mediated tools that allow
people to create, share or exchange information, ideas, and pictures/videos in virtual
communities and networks (Adedeji, 2011). It is the collections of internet websites, services and
practices that support collaboration, community building, participation, and sharing (Ndaku,
2013). Social media can also be defined as a group of Internet-based applications that build on
the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and that allow the creation and
exchange of user-generated content. Social media therefore depend on mobile and web-based
technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and communities
share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content (Bello, 2012).
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A major category of the social media activity is social networking. In the recent times,
there has been increasing integration of social media networking tools such as blogs, microblogs,
and video-sharing sites into the society (Robbins, 2005). Social networking sites have also
enhanced the functioning of the older media of communication (Cranston and Davies, 2009).
Social networking websites, such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter, have generally become an
integral part of the society (Cotton, 2008). Ndaku (2013), posits that social networking which
include blogs (political Blog), networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), video sharing (YouTube),
audio sharing (Podcast), mobile sites (2go etc.), image or picture sharing (flicker), etc. have the
capacity of boosting participation of the general public into the nation’s wellbeing because of
their open, conversational nature, connectedness and textual and audio-visual characteristic
appeals.
In Nigeria, there has been a prevalent rate of insecurity and this is made obvious by the
alarming trend of anti-social acts prevalent in the nation (Wali, 2012). Acts of terrorism by the
Boko Haram Islamic sect, incidents of kidnapping in the southeast and South-South parts of the
country, including agitations by militants in the Niger Delta have become “brands” of crime that
have given a negative identity to Nigeria (Ali, 2013). This is in addition to other conventional
crimes such as theft, arson, violent ethno-religious conflicts to mention but few, which the law
enforcement agents battle daily (Ofuafor, 2008). These acts particularly those that involve threat
to life have contributed in creating an alarming state of insecurity in some parts of the country.
The social media is a principal player in the arena of national security (Nwanegbo and
Odigbo, 2013). The social media by their nature have the capabilities of educating, informing,
entertaining and inflaming the audience (Adedeji, 2011). Above all, they possess a contagious
and outreaching influence which the conventional media lack and this potential is most likely
what Osahenye (2012) refers to as unstoppable power of the social media. Social media is a
double edged sword in that it can be used either in a beneficial or detrimental ways. It is on this
thrust that this study was carried out to examine the impact of social media on national security
from the standpoint of Nigeria perspective.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Ndaku (2013) rightfully posited that social media function as a watchdog capable of
blowing the whistle to call attention to serious national issues. This implies a clear recognition of
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the fact that the media plays an important role on issues of national security. The involvement of
settlements and gratitude is usually the center for media publishers to neglect information
sensitivity and pursue monetary satisfaction. This problem can be cited as Profit Maximization
Vs information protection.
The intentional publishing of information on social media platform without the consent of
security agencies is a major problem that endangers the national security of Nigeria, Hence arises
the question, Do they lias with security agencies before publishing?
The growing challenge of security in Nigeria is of concern to all. Every effort must be
employed to combat this challenge. The issue of national security is a fundamental issue in
national and international relations. It is in adherence to this fact that media publication outfits
are experts at intelligence gathering processes. Brings the question, How could they publish
without security concerns when they knowingly lack the intelligence requirements?
The power of the media to decide what the people should read, see or hear has never been
in doubt. What has been in the center of controversy is the capacity of those in whose hands
reside such enormous powers to using how do they process information before publication?
Furthermore, Ali (2013) observed that the greatest challenge to the social media in
Nigeria today is how to make itself relevant to the Nigerian society particularly where
democracy is on trial, and national institutions are taking shape. In this light, this study will
proffer ways of improving social media for effective management of national security in Nigeria.
Relating to the Nigerian perspective of how the operations of the social media affect national
security has been on the increase whereby the information sensitive to national protection is let
loose, criticized or black-mailed before proper dissemination.
1.3 Research Objectives
The aim of this study is to examine the impact of social media on national security from
the standpoint of Nigeria. Specifically, the objectives of this study are:
1. To identify the various types of social media that Nigerians are exposed to.
2. To examine the positive impacts of social media on national security.
3. To examine how social media has impacted on national security negatively
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4. To proffer ways of improving social media for effective management of national security
in Nigeria.
1.4 Research Questions
This study will answer the following research questions:
1. What are the various types of social media that Nigerians are exposed to?
2. What are the positive impacts of social media on national security?
3. To what extent has social media impacted on national media negatively?
4. What are the ways of improving social media for effective management of national
security in Nigeria?
1.5 Significance of the Study
The social media is a principal player in the arena of national security; hence, this study
shall provide a conceptual framework that will address the roles of social media on national
security from the standpoint of Nigeria. This research will therefore enlighten the Government of
Nigeria and other concerned stakeholders on how social media can affect national security, thus
providing ways of managing the rising insecurities in Nigeria. This research will serve as a
useful guide to policy makers on how best to tackle security challenges in Nigeria. More so, this
study will also serve as a good source of information by Nigerian policy makers, students of
security studies, public administration and sociology as it would also identify how influence of
social media on national security. This study will also serve as a starting point for further
research by other scholars who might be interested in this area of study. In addition to that, this
study will also add to the body of existing literatures on the impact of social media on national
security. It will enable us to study the negative impact of media publication which is been
affected by profit maximization.
1.6 Scope of the Study
The study will be centered on the impact of social media in national security from the
perspective of Nigeria. The choice of social media is because of the increasing trend of its usage
in the daily activities of Nigerians. As a matter of fact, this study will only consider social media
such as Blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Podcast, 2go, flicker, Instagram etc and will not look
at the impact of other mass media on national security. Furthermore, national security is a very
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sensitive issue and as such, opinions to be generated in this study will cover personal views and
perceptions of individuals on the impact of social media in national security. So, the data
generated during the course of this research work will be limited on the impact of social media in
national security from Nigerian perspective.
1.7 Limitation of study
An important limitation to the study was finance and limited time frame. The lack of crucial data
or the presence of falsified data by government agencies and many publications were major
limitations.
However, in spite of all these Limitations efforts were made to ensure the quality of this research
in the use of sources such as Academic Journals, Newspapers, Blogs, Posters and other materials.
1.8 Definition of Terms
The following are key terms used in the research work:
National Security: National security according to Macmillan Dictionary (2010) is the
protection or the safety of a country’s secrets and its citizens. National security is a
prerequisite for progress and orderliness in any society and this is because the protection
of lives and property is paramount in the life of man. Many things are embedded in
national security and it includes economic security, energy security, environmental
security and so forth. However, for the purpose of this paper, national security means the
protection of a nation’s citizens to ensure political, economic, and social order so as to
enable the nation-state prosper along with other nations in order to attain national pride
and fulfillment among the comity of nations.
Communication: Communication is the act of imparting of information by speaking, writing or
using some other medium. It is a means of sending or receiving information such as
telephone lines or computers. For this study, communication can be defined the way of
transferring information either through spoken or verbal (face-to-face, telephone, radio or
other media) and written communication (letters, e-mails, books, magazine, internets)
Media: They technologies that are intended to reach a large audience by mass communication.
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Social Media:They are forms of electronic communication which facilitate interactive base on
certain interests. Social media include web and mobile technology. Social Media can also
be defined as a group of internet based application that allows the creation and exchange
of user generated content.
Social Networking: The use of internet to make information about yourself available to other
people especially people you share an interest with to send messages to them.
Social Networking Sites: A website where people put information about them and can send to
others such as Blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Podcast, 2go, flicker.
1.9 Organization of the Study
The study is organized into five (5) chapters:
Chapter one is the introduction of the study and comprises of with background of the
study, statement of the problem, research objectives, research questions, significance of the
study, scope and limitations of the study, definition of terms and organization of the study.
The chapter two is the literature review and theoretical framework with special focus on
the concept of communication, concept of mass media, concept of social media, concept of
national security, overview of the security challenges in Nigeria, roles of mass media in national
development, relationship between media and national security and theoretical framework
Chapter three discusses the research methodology which includes research design,
population of the study, sample size, sampling technique, method of data collection and method
of data analysis.
Chapter four dwells on data presentation, analysis and interpretation, followed by testing
of hypothesis and discussion of findings.
Chapter five is basically on the summary of the study, conclusions and recommendations.