Environmental Education and Media Role in Creating Awareness in Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Media is said to be the fourth pillar of democracy. The media's power to stimulate the minds of millions of people is its key function. One of the important roles of media is that of raising awareness on some of the burning issues of the world. Environmental issues are numerous and affect all aspects of life. Or to put it another way, nobody is immune to the effects of environmental problems. This paper examined media’s role in creating awareness with regard to environmental education. Three objectives were stated to guide the study and the survey design was adopted. Population of this study were residents of Ogun State which span through three Senatorial Districts, (Ogun Central East and West) Ogun State, Nigeria. -A -total -samples -of -200 -residents -were –selected through multi-stage sampling techniques (Stratified, Simple random and purposive). A survey was used to acquire the data for the study. with a Likert-type rating scale. Data was analysed using SPSS software 25.0. Findings revealed lack of education on environmental (X = 2.51, SD = 0.86) and weak government policies (X = 2.13, SD = 0.97) were some of the challenges faced by the media in creating environmental awareness. The result of the hypothesis revealed a positive significant correlation between environmental education and media awareness (r = .649, p<.05). The study recommended that the media should create more awareness on environmental hazards which can stimulate the public interest on the need to frequently observe governmental policies on environment.