The Role of Newspaper in Fighting Insecurity in Nigeria: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Insecurity is a major problem in developing countries, particularly Africa, with Nigeria facing challenges like kidnapping, banditry, militancy, and boko haram, among others, that need to be addressed. Newspapers play a crucial role in helping security agents address these challenges through unbiased reporting.

Objectives: This systematic review aims to examine the extent to which scholars pay attention to the role of print media in addressing insecurity in Nigeria and to explore the growth and development of media and insecurity studies in Nigeria based on the collected data from Scopus and Web of Science.

Methodology: The systematic review was conducted based on the principles of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). Two databases (Scopus and Web of Science) were searched, and 107 related articles were recorded, out of which 21 met the final review criteria.

Findings: The results show that Nigerian scholars studying print media and insecurity concentrated more on farmer-herder conflicts and the Boko Haram insurgency, while armed banditry, which has become deadlier in recent times, received little attention from the scholars.

Contributions: The study draws attention to newspaper and banditry, an area that print media scholars in Nigeria have mostly ignored.

Conclusion: Based on the study’s findings, we concluded that the majority of Nigerian scholars with an interest in print media and insecurity do not often publish their works in outlets indexed in Scopus and Web of Science.  

Recommendation: Future research on print media and insecurity should pay more attention to armed banditry, which is now a major problem in the country. Communication scholars in Nigeria should also endeavour to publish their findings in journals indexed with Scopus and Web of Science databases.