Structured Deliberative Gossip and Nigerian Government in the Digital Era

Abstract

Active citizen participation in governance, openness and prompt provision of adequate information for the public to make informed decision is crucial for any meaningful development to be achieved. Unfortunately, governance in Nigeria is shrouded in secrecy, lies, half-truths, gossips and rumours which negate some of the cardinal precepts of democracy generally. Since such opportunities for citizen engagement are lacking, it is common for Nigerians to resort to social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter (X), WhatsApp and Blogs to access and share information which may result in cyber-gossip or cyber-rumour peddling especially on burning national issues. This research therefore, examines structured deliberative gossip and Nigerian government in the digital era. Anchored on structured deliberative gossip theory, the study uses simple random sampling technique and 385 sample size which was drawn from Taraba state for analysis and discussion using tables and simple percentage. Findings reveal that, Nigerian government engage in gossips and rumours as ways of gauging public opinion and testing their popularity or otherwise before they are implemented thereby serving as precursor for policy formation. However, this research recommends among other things that, citizen participation and adequate information provision, openness and transparency can help to reduce the propagation of gossips by the government. Also, since gossips and rumours can affect the government negatively, there is a need for the government to control rumour propagation by releasing official Rumor-Refuting Information (ORI).