ANSU Journal of Arts And Social Sciences

Exposure to Voodoo Merchants on Facebook and Its Influence on Youth’s Engagement in Ritualism

Chika Onyinye Nnabuife — 2024-10-25

The contemporary Nigerian society is challenged by vices that undermine the peace and security of her citizens. Some of these acts are believed to be perpetrated by the youths. Among these vices are drug and other substance abuse, internet fraud, otherwise known as Yahoo Yahoo, sexual immorality, ritualism and others. Engagement in these practices lead to the loss of lives and the destruction of human capital. No nation can attain reasonable development with the endless list of social vices eating up the better part of the workforce, the youth. There have been cases when the Nigeria Police Force has paraded youths ranging from 17 to 40 years of age for alleged ritual killings. Some of the suspects have confessed to getting information on the process online. This is given the availability of voodoo merchants, who freely market charms and enchantments. Consequently, this study seeks to find out the influence of African voodoo merchants on youth’s engagement in ritualism. Social media has created a platform for African voodoo practitioners to interact and promote their trade with the use of platforms such as Facebook Live, Reels, TikTok stories etc. This study is anchored on Cultivation theory. The qualitative research design was adopted to gather data. The study found that youths are exposed to voodoo merchants on Facebook, the merchants enjoy huge followership, few of the respondents have patronized the merchants and got positive results. The study recommends among others that security agencies must prosecute voodoo merchants who prompt youths to engage in ritualism.

Creating Awareness of the Health Hazards of Mkpurummiri among Youth: The Role of the Mass Media

Angela Nkiru Nwammuo — 2024-10-25

Recently, videos of adults being flogged for consuming a substance known as Mkpurummiri went viral on social media. The video was said to have been shot in a community in the Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, South East of Nigeria, where many have become addicted to the substance. Soon after that, the social media space became inundated with reports of the abuse of this hard drug called crystal meth or methamphetamine otherwise known as Mkpurummiri in the Igbo parlance. From Facebook to WhatsApp to Instagram and other social media platforms, videos and pictures as well as textual reports of the havoc of the abuse of Mkpur mmiri were shared by users containing displays of the effects and symptoms of the consumption of Mkpurummiri like madness, barking, shouting and other abnormal behaviour. This work is therefore aimed at using analytical approach in prescribing the role of the media in creating awareness of the health hazards of this substance among residents of Anambra State.

Political Thuggery and Insecurity in Nigeria (2015 – 2021)

Ifeoma Ethel Ezeabasili — 2024-10-25

Political thuggery is the intentional use of physical force threatened against another person that either result in injury, death, psychological harm within a Political circle. In recent time, the Nigerian political system has witnessed increased political thuggery and at the same time experienced rising insecurity ranging from kidnapping, armed robbery, ritual killings, terrorism etc these has created a lot of concerns both at the national, regional and international level. Based on the aforementioned this paper examined Political thuggery and insecurity in Nigeria, 2015-2021. The paper utilized Elite theory as its theoretical framework and relied on secondary sources of data from books, journal articles, periodicals, newspaper, working paper and magazines. Data collated were analyzed using content analysis and the findings revealed that; there is a link between political thuggery and insecurity in Nigeria, this is because political thuggery provides a breeding ground for kidnapping, terrorism, ritual killings, armed robbery, and drug addiction and all these threatens the safety of citizens and the country as a whole, thus recommended stiff penalty for both the politician and the thug, establish a mechanism for demobilizing, recovering weapons, reorientation of the thugs and politicians, and proper education. The paper concluded that political thuggery is responsible for the rising insecurity in Nigeria.

Youth Social Vices and Internal Security in Anambra State: Implications on Sustainable Development

Emeka J. Onyetube — 2024-10-25

Youth’s depravity is global to human societies. In Nigeria and Anambra State particularly, youth social vices have created huge security issues with palpable fear among the residents of the state. This paper seeks to examine youth and internal security and its implications on sustainable development in the state. For clarification, the theory of conflict was employed where both primary and secondary data were used, while primary data were collected using a structured questionnaire, and respondents were purposively sampled. Secondary data were used to corroborate the findings from primary data. Cross-sectional data were used and the sample size obtained was 200 respondents across the three senatorial zones of the state. Thus, data were analysed quantitatively using linear regression to establish the relationship between variables through OLS. The paper reveals a significant influence of the youth’s social vices on the level of internal security and sustainable development in the state. It, therefore, concludes that the inclusion of youths in national development is important for the sustenance of internal security. Thus, it suggests that there are brighter chances of achieving sustainable development targets and internal security with an appropriate governance structure in place that will help mitigate social vices among youths in the state.

Linkage Effects of Agriculture Expenditure on Food Security in Nigeria

I. Adokwe Ekene — 2024-10-25

This study examined the linkage effect of agriculture expenditure on food security in Nigeria. Pertinent time series data ranging from 1981 to 2022 were adopted for the research analysis. For testing the existence or lack of a unit root in the series and an endogeneity issue in the model, we employed the Phillip Perron and simultaneity tests. In assessing the nature of relationship among agriculture expenditure, climate change, security index, population growth rate, agricultural mechanization and food security; two stage least squares approach was employed. The study found that Nigeria's food security is significantly impacted by agriculture expenditure, climate change, and security index. During this study period, agricultural mechanization had a considerable detrimental influence on food security. However, population expansion showed a negligible improvement in food security. We conclude by urging an increase in agricultural spending in line with the 2003 Maputo Declaration's recommendations. Once more, Nigerian farmers should be pushed to embrace climate smart farming practices by publicizing them.

Psychosocial Effect of Social Media Use in Communicating “Oke Ite” Traditional Charm on Youths in Anambra State: An Exploratory Study

Oluchukwu Augustina Nwafor — 2024-10-25

The survey investigates psychosocial effect of social media use in communicating “oke ite” traditional charm on youths in Anambra state. Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Instagram and among others, provide new ways to ‘stimulate citizens’ engagement in cultural discuss. Traditional priest and priestess are becoming more active on it, thus, communicating “oke ite” traditional charm via social media creates grassroot awareness about the charm. Specifically, the objectives of this study include to; ascertain the respondent’s major sources of information about “oke ite” traditional charm, determine if social media exposure increases the respondent’s knowledge about “oke ite” charm, find out if social media influences the respondent’s attitude towards “oke ite” charm and to investigate if the respondent’s attitude will influence their adoption/practice of “oke ite” messages on social media. The study was hinged on Technological Determinism and Theory of Reasoned Action. In-Depth Interview was used to generate data for qualitative data and the result was used to answer the research question. Population of the study consists of the population of youth’s leaders who are residence in Awka south Local government. This youth leaders were selected from nine towns in Awka South LGA namely; Awka, Nibo, Amawobia, Okpuno, Nise, Umuawulu, Isiagu, Ezinato, and Mbaukwu. Two participants were purposively selected from each quarter; thus, the sample size was 18 participants. Evidence from the research data indicated that Facebook followed by WhatsApp was the respondent’s major source of information about “oke ite” charm, social media sites increase the respondent’s knowledge about “oke ite” charm, though the respondents perceive social media sites very useful, but social media exposure did not influence their attitude or lure them into practice of “oke ite” charm. The study concludes that though social media has been found as a veritable tool for promoting cultural belief and practices, but, Nigerian government should formulate law/regulation that will control the abuse of social media platforms by citizen journalist.

Ego-Mbute Phenomenon and the Challenge of Insecurity in Nigeria

Anthony Ogbonna Uche — 2024-10-25

The concept of money making is hardly part of the education curriculum in Nigeria. What people learn about making money is usually from peers, parents and friends. Sometimes, they learn it through books and self-help by trial and error. Nigerian youths are among the most daring group of individuals in the society who aspire to make money by all means as well as so quick. Activities of cult members and ritual killers around us are pointers to the youths’ daredevil audacity without equanimity to make money; these have posed danger to the security situation of the country. Of much concern is the rate at which cybercrime cum ritual perpetrators that are euphemistically regarded as Yahoo-plus guys recklessly display their ill-gotten wealth to the admiration of their peers who describe them as the happening guys in town. This study is conceptual and is underpinned by the social learning theory. It is aimed at unveiling the societal impact of the activities of desperate and daring youths who venture into nefarious activities with the sole aim of massive accumulation of wealth popularly referred to in Igbo society as Ego-mbute. Findings revealed that ego-mbute adversely impacts both the perpetrators and the society; it leads to the loss of lives of the perpetrators and their victims who often are used for money ritual. The study therefore recommends that parents should inculcate in their children the need to imbibe hard work and honesty in everything they do; conferment of titles should be on only people of integrity and honest dealings while publicly repudiating money miss road adherents.

The Works and Lifestyles of Nigerian Celebrities as Drivers of Crimes Amongst the Youth and Young People

Vincent Chukwukadibia Onwughalu — 2024-10-25

This paper is a discourse on how the works and lifestyles of Nigerian celebrities act as drivers of crimes amongst the country’s youth and young people. It shows the trends of crime in the country before and in the era of the new media, bringing to the fore emerging dimensions that are rarely reported explicitly in extant literature. Data for the study were obtained through secondary sources and analyzed through content analysis based on Bibb Latané’s (1981) social impact theory. The findings suggest that: (i) while leadership examples and weak institutions are at the roots of crimes in the country, (ii) the messages (directly and impliedly) communicated in the works of celebrities and their lifestyles act as the drivers amongst the youth and young people, (iii) the failure of relevant institutions to regulate the lifestyles of celebrities and their works promotes the tendency to get rich quick and by all means amongst the youth and young people. It recommends the regulation of the works and lifestyles of Nigerian celebrities by relevant institutions.

Social Vices, Hate Speech and Cyberbullying in Nigeria: Impacts on Nigerian Youths

Mmanwanyi Pet Nwadike — 2024-10-25

As electronic technology continues to penetrate all aspects of human lives and transforms the social order, it has impacted on human beings significantly. Positively, internet facility has made human communication a lot easier. Unfortunately, the use of internet facility has been abused and has facilitated the rise of social vices such as hate speech and cyberbullying on humanity, especially the youths. For the purpose of this paper, we focused more on the negative effects of internet facility as an instrument for social vices to humanity, with special attention to the Nigerian youths. The data for this study is from secondary source which consists of observations by different authors in different spheres of life. We observed that cyberbullying and hate speech are inter-related as both are social vices which involve harassments and hate utterances which can trigger war. Hence, same remedy may be applicable to fight against both. To the best of our knowledge, there were no legal laws on hate speech. Therefore, we recommend that the government and all concerned authorities should enforce internet security to monitor, as well as pass a bill that will take care of haters, bring to book and penalize cyber offenders. Parents/guardians should take responsibilities towards checkmating their children’s activities both online and offline. Awareness should be created in schools, churches, mosques and in communities to educate people on what constitutes hate speech. In conclusion, awareness should be created on the consequences of hate speech and cyberbullying to the future of the youths and the society.