Niger Delta Restiveness in Nigeria: a Multimodal Discourse Analytical Study of Cover Pages of Selected Editions of Tell News Magazines

Abstract

This study essentially is focused on the precarious security situation in Nigeria. In recent times, security condition in the country has worsened and the situation has been variously reported in Nigerian media. TELL, a foremost Nigerian news magazine has at various times run reports on the myriad of security challenges in the country. TELL reports mainly are on the restiveness of Niger Delta militants, Jos crisis, Boko Haram bombing spree, ethno-religious crises among others. The editors of the magazine have depicted some of these in their cover pages. Hence, this paper critically attempts a multimodal discourse analysis of the pictorial representation of these security threats vis-a vis the implication for Nigeria. In this paper however, our attention is basically on the restiveness of the Niger Delta Militants. A concise attempt will be made to critically analyse some of these images with a view to bringing out what they signify or represent. Also certain semiotic resources will be looked into such as the use of colour, symbols and gaze or posture.

Keywords: multimodal discourse analysis, representations, exploitation, Niger Delta, significations