Youth participation in politics: a comparison of Nigerian youths resident in rural and urban areas

Azubuike-Oba, Chidinma Chidubem (2023) Youth participation in politics: a comparison of Nigerian youths resident in rural and urban areas. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University.

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Abstract

Over the years, youth participation in politics has shown steady decline and some researchers claim that in the last two decades, the proliferation of social media usagehas given rise to youth political engagement globally (Ali, Habes, & Qamar, 2020). The idea that digital media has enhanced in various ways youths’ participation in politics cannot be over emphasised given that the digital media, especially, the social media is not only interactive and youth friendly but also provides enabling environment for youth engagement, resulting in more politically engaged youths. Research shows that youths in urban areas are more likely to engage in online political participation than the youths in rural areas due to their limited access to internet connectivity compared to their urban counterparts. Based on the digital divide theory, this study seeks to comparatively assess urban and rural youth political participation in Nigeria. The study achieves this by comparing the responses gotten from an online survey distributed to Nigerian youths’ resident in the urban areas (who have more access to social media) and a physical questionnaire given to those who live in rural Nigeria (who are reported to have less access to social media). The results show that while social media usage allows for more online participation, those in the rural area have participated more in voting and other forms of political participation. The study suggests that to ensure all Nigerian youths are encouraged to participate in politics, campaign managers and political parties should embrace both online and offline methods of political communication.

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