THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE DYNAMISM OF GOVERNANCE IN AFRICA

. (Study of Punch Newspaper , Nigeria ).

AUTHORS :

1.Olaide kehinde Taofeek 2. Samaila Mande 3. Francisco Akobi Oko

Department of Mass Communication & Department of Business Administration and Marketing

National Open University of Nigeria ,Abuja ,Nigeria

E-mails :1.Kehideolaide@ymail.com 2. smande@noun.edu.ng 3.franciscooko2@gmail.com

Telephone Numbers : 08033285472 2. 08022657023 3. 0906980111

ABSTRACT

The study was aimed at ascertaining the effect of social media on the dynamism of governance in
Africa due to researchers observation of dynamism of governance in Africa mostly
Nigeria .Concept ,empirical works and theory of networked public sphere were used as they
were related to social media and governance .Survey research design was adopted for the
study .Simply regression was used to measure the cause –effect relationship between the research
variables .The population of the study comprised of every staff of Punch
Newspaper ,Nigeria.The sample size used is approximately 80 using Taro Yamane formula for
sample attainment. The analysis showed a positive and significant effect of social media on
dynamism of governance in Africa .The study concluded that ,social media is important to
dynamism of governance in Africa by fostering societal roles and increase citizens participation
in democratic process as its enhance governance via accountability ,openness ,transparency and
responsiveness as government actions are influenced and monitored by citizens using social
media ,The study recommends that ,journalists should carry out due diligence on their
information without bias for citizens to have access to correct information across different social
media platforms ,there should be freedom of speech and access to government information by
citizens of social media to encourage their participations in politics

KEYWORDS :Social media ,Governance ,Dynamism ,Africa, Democratic process