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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background of the study

Over the years, the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) has been performing critically well in the area of information dissemination, educating the populace and playing advocacy roles most especially in critical moments and events (Effiong, Nseobot, Johnny, Frank, Abere, Essien, &Ukpong, 2020). The outbreak of the world’s pandemic disease virus (COVID- 19) has taken the world unaware, unprepared thus, leaving the affected country to suffer the devastating dead crises as well as economic breakdown etc. In Nigeria, the present of the deadly virus knows as corona virus, COVID- 19, was confirmed officially on the 27^th February 2020 after a virology laboratory test came out at the Lagos university teaching Hospital on the suspected Italian man who arrived Nigeria from Milan on February 24, 2020 on the Turkish Airline (Ihekweazu, 2020).

The 2019 novel corona virus (SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19), was first identified in Wuhan, China, among people having pneumonia. These ones were associated with seafood and live animal. As part of the commitment by the Nigerian Government, the federal government through the Federal Ministry of Health made it officially known to Nigerians about the reality of the virus. It is against this development that we have taken into consideration to measure the effect and the level of awareness programme by NTA especially in the Niger Delta region. When COVID-19 crept into the southern Delta region in April, health workers had to learn to overcome their worries and hunkered down to the needed work. The odds seemed stacked against the six states that make up the South-South zone: AkwaIbom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers. COVID-19 cases increased daily while community attitudes towards the virus grew lax. Health workers scrambled to manage the time and resources available to respond to both COVID-19 and other endemic-prone diseases (WHO, 2020).Across the Niger Delta, the World Health Organization (WHO, 2020) and its partners retrained Three thousand, eight hundred and seventy four (3874 ) surveillance officers who had been mobilized to detect COVID-19 cases in hospitals and communities to also look for acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), polio, meningitis, cholera, neonatal tetanus, yellow fever, measles and more. Television is a powerful medium for appealing to mass audience. It reaches people regardless of age, sex, income or educational level. In addition, television offers sight and sound, and it make dramatic and life like representation of people, event and product. Considering the Ikeja residents, it’s very important for NTA to strengthen the awareness effort on the region so as to preserve life and continuous activities on the oil rich region for economic growth. According to NCDC as of 19^th July 2021; the number of affected people in Ikeja was 2,285 and the number of death rate was 456.

There is empirical evidence (washing the hands with soap and running water, wearing face mask, and avoiding crowded area) that the health of a nation significantly enhances its economic development and vice versa. Outbreak of diseases have undermined development and impoverished many developing nations like Nigeria in one way or the other as resources meant for other sectors has been channeled to preventing and halting the disease as well as treating the victims (Mayer, et al.  2020). Nevertheless, it has been enunciated that the pursuit of better health should not await an improved economy; rather measures to improve health will themselves contribute to economic growth. At the instance of any outbreak of diseases in a country, it is the responsibility of the government through the Ministry of health to rise to the challenges by appropriating good amount of money and setting up facilities to combat the virus, Non-Governmental bodies and other national and International Health and co-operate Organizations must of a necessity create awareness through mass media and other communication forms by sensitizing the public on the causes, signs and symptoms of the disease, preventive and protective measures against the disease. The outbreak of Corona virus diseases (COVID-19) required the same procedure of creating awareness. It was first reported of its outbreak in January 2020. Since then, the disease has claimed many lives at its different outbreaks globally (Ayodele, 2021). In order to reduce the spread of the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends raising community awareness of the risk factors for Corona infection and the protective measures individuals can take. The government charitable groups, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and other agencies hence  created awareness campaigns on the Corona virus such awareness includes putting messages and jingles on radio and television stations and  pasting  posters around communities as part of a long term programme to inform the public and help prevent further infections (Adhikari, et al. 2020). Others include organizing seminars and workshops on Corona topics, as well as taking to the streets and villages educating the public on how to respond to the outbreak.

Health education is very important for the general public to internalize appropriate health information that will serve as guides to their health behaviour. This is because people are likely to exhibit health behaviour based on available information to them. The point to make here is that health behaviour of people is largely dependent on information available to them.

The media as the fourth estate of the realm occupy a cardinal role in health education. Many decades ago, Flora et al (2019) had outlined the four roles that the media can play in health intervention to include:  media as educator, media as supporter, is media as programme promoter, and media as supplement. The four elements look different but can typically be implemented in combination or individually. For example, media as an educator entails that the media have to educate the masses about public health issues. The objective of educating the public about public health issues is to ensure that they are mentally armed with information that will serve as a checklist regarding their behaviour. Lupton (2018) note that the media are critical players in health education. The researchers add that one of the strategies through which the media can achieve this is through a combination of education and entertainment. Slater and Flora (2019) hold the view that media provide a formidable platform through which health information can be made available to the general public. In their view, the media are critical players in educating the general public about health issues.

According to Slater and Flora (2019) the mass media of communication provide health information to the general public thereby serving as a guide for people to adopt life-saving behaviour. The fundamental way through which the media can educate the general public on public health issues is through coverage. This can take place through strategies like frequently reporting public health issues, recommending appropriate health behaviour and suggesting policies that will assist in combating the public health issues reported. Educating the general public about health issues is like preparing them for war. Therefore, where possible, this has to be done ahead of time, not when the health issue becomes a pandemic. This is important so that it will prepare them to take proactive steps. What this means is that where possible, it is better for the media to educate the general public about health pandemics well ahead of time before there it is a confirmed case within their locality. Within the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), local media did not need to wait until there is a confirmed case of the virus in their country before educating the general public but its symptoms, prevention and recommend action for the government to take. Unfortunately, previous studies (Ray, 2019; Soola, Igbinoba, Omojola, Odukoya, Adekeye, &Salau, 2020) that have examined media coverage did not take this aspect into account.

Television news (news editors, news producers and other news managers) presents conflict to us as they see it. Awareness programme on any issue simply gives detailed information about the issue at hand. Television is a major medium for dissemination of information to the public while Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) is one of the numerous channels that have the statutory responsibility for transmission of this information via Television. NTA has   many branches and sub stations across the country. Television is a powerful tool for the transfer of information, concepts and ideas to both general and specific audiences. It plays an important role in advancing public health goals.

The role of the broadcast media is critical in promoting good governance and the countries wellbeing. It is not only raising public awareness about corruption, its causes, consequences and possible remedies but also investigates and report incidence of diseases affecting the country and possible solutions on preventing such health issues (Ayoola, 2018).Thus, the essence of the broadcast media in maintaining a sane society cannot be overemphasized. Media can play an important public accountability role by monitoring and investigating especially whatever is going on within the country. Therefore, in this study the main objective is to determine the role of NTA in the fight against the spread of corona virus.

 

• Statement of the problem

The corona-virus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic shocked the world, overwhelming the health systems of even high-income countries. Predictably, the situation has elicited social and medical responses from the public and governments, respectively (Flora et al., 2020).  For Lau and Chan (2015), coronavirus has been causing serious health problems in both humans and animals over the past two decades. Some of the signs of Covid-19 include fever, running nose, coughing, sneezing, shortness of breath and pneumonia and it is transmitted through respiratory droplets from an infected person (Sheikhi et al., 2020; Hassan et al., 2020).Public health emergencies during outbreak of communicable diseases may cause fear and anxiety leading to prejudices against people and communities, social isolation and stigma. Such behavior may culminate into increased hostility, chaos and unnecessary social disruptions. Cases have been reported of people affected with COVID-19 as well as healthcare workers, sanitary workers and police, who are in the frontline for management of the outbreak, facing discrimination on account of heightened fear and misinformation about infection. Even those who have recovered from COVID-19 face such discrimination. Furthermore, certain communities and areas are being labeled purely based on false reports floating in social media and elsewhere. There is an urgent need to counter such prejudices and to rise as a community that is empowered with health literacy and responds appropriately in the face of this adversity. The Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) continues to expand laboratories for the testing of COVID-19 and has commenced the use of GeneXpert across the country to scale-up testing. Through the #Take Responsibility campaign by the NCDC, Nigerians and residents in the country are urged to take greater individual and collective responsibility in preventing and controlling the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria.

Lack of adequate information through awareness programmes on the mass media could lead to severe adverse effects and negative public opinion about a certain issue, as is the case with the coronavirus global pandemic. Using television as a major medium for dissemination of information to the public, most TV and radio stations have been creating awareness on the virus, but the problem remains that of authenticity and validity of the information that is spread. This study focuses on the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) Lagos branch as it is one of the channels that has the statutory responsibility for transmission of these information via Television which is a powerful tool for the transfer of information, concepts and ideas to both general and specific audiences. It plays an important role in advancing public health goals but it could also have adverse effects if the information is misleading or false. To this end, the study seeks to assess the perception of Ikeja LGA residents on the role of NTA in the fight against the spread of corona virus.

 

• Objectives of the study

The main objective of the study is to assess the perception of Ikeja LGA residents on the role of NTA in the fight against the spread of corona virus. The specific variables that guided the study were to;

1. find out if Ikeja LGA residents were exposed to NTA COVID-19 information
2. determine the role of NTA in disseminating information on health precautions
3. ascertain if media stories made suggestions to the government on how to stop the spread of COVID-19
4. assess the effectiveness of the NTA awareness programme onCOVID-19 in Nigeria

 

• Research Questions

1. Are Ikeja LGA residents exposed to NTACOVID-19 information?
2. To what extent has NTA disseminated information on health precautions to the public?
3. What are the recommendations made by NTA to the government on how to stop the spread of COVID-19?
4. What is the effectiveness of the NTA awareness programme onCOVID-19 in Nigeria?

 

• Significance of the study

A healthy nation is a wealthy nation. This popular axiom emphasizes the significant position of health in the development of any nation. The uniqueness of this study is based on the premise that not many researchers have done much on this topic. This study adds to the already existing literature on fear, fighting and other forms of social vices on Nigeria. To that end, the findings of this work reveal whether the media have been living up to expectation in the area of awareness campaign on COVID-19. If at the end, the opinions of people revealed that the media have not been measuring up, it then requires that the next study be or how to make the media live up to their roles. Also, the findings of this study show how effective the media has been in influencing behaviours and perceptions of social norms and maintenance of behavior change especially in the face of the global health pandemic. Lastly, the findings of this study serve as empirical literature for future studies and also serve as reference for further studies in the future.