Influence of Channels Television’s Voter Education Messages on the Awareness and Participation of South East Residents during 2023 General Election in Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the influence of Channels Television’s voter education messages on the awareness and participation of South-East residents during the 2023 general elections in Nigeria. The survey research method was used to carry out the study. The 25268417 residents of South-East Nigeria were used as the population of the study from where a sample size of 384 was drawn using the Wimmer and Dominick online sample size calculator. The multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the local government areas, communities and individuals who participated in the study. Both the questionnaire and interview guide were used for data collection. After the data collection and cleaning, the generated quantitative data were collated, presented and analysed using tables and simple percentages while the generated qualitative data were transcribed and presented using the explanation building technique. Simple percentages were used to answer the research questions. Based on the outcomes of the analysis of data, the study found that Channels Television’s voter education messages significantly raised the awareness of voter registration centres among majority of the respondents for the 2023 general elections; the voter education messages by Channels Television could not significantly help majority of respondents to identify their polling units during the 2023 general elections; Channels Television messages adequately raised majority of the respondents’ awareness on the political parties and candidates that contested for various positions in the 2023 general elections; and finally the voter education messages by Channels Television significantly mobilised majority of the respondents to properly cast their ballots during the 2023 general elections. The study consequently recommended among others that in preparing voter education messages for subsequent elections in Nigeria, Channels Television should collaborate with INEC and give adequate attention to the aspect of polling units to facilitate voters’ awareness and identification of their polling units