Achieving Rural Political Participation through the Radio: A Study of Idemili North and South Local Government Areas in Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study entitled Achieving rural political participation through the radio: a study of Idemili North and South local government areas in Anambra State, Nigeria was a survey of 200 rural residents drawn from Ojoto, Alor, Umuoji and Ideani. The study was conducted to ascertain respondents’ opinion on the role of the radio in disseminating political campaign information to rural residents and to assess the kind of political information disseminated to them through the medium of radio. A sixteen-item, multi-choice, close-ended questionnaire was used to collect data and data analysis was done using the percentage method. Findings show that radio has been very effective in mobilising rural residents in Idemili North and South council areas for political participation and radio has been used for disseminating political information such as political campaign schedules of politicians, voter education, election dates, etc. The paper concluded that radio is the most effective available mass medium for mobilising rural residents for political participation and may remain so for a long time to come. We therefore, recommended that political parties and politicians should make more effective use of the many opportunities that the radio provide in communicating political messages to people living in the rural areas of the state.

Keywords: Radio, Achievement, Rural, Political participation, Idemili North and South,  Anambra State