Abstract:

From the return of democracy in 1999 to the 2023 electioneering season, the prevalence of sectionalism over inclusivity and patriotism in the democratic processes has instilled in Nigerian youths, a mentality of denial. This has in turn engendered in them acute trust deficit and steep apathy for political participation. The youths have always expressed their objection to this condition through campaigns and protests for inclusiveness. The conventional media are also replete with advocacies denouncing the circumstances behind this situation and attempts to re-interest the youths to their rightful place in the polity. However, the observation that such efforts remain unheeded suggests that these media are not well placed for productive engagement with the youths in the prevailing situation. In contrast, Nigerian youths as “prodsumers” of personalized media content on social media, have severally leveraged the convergence culture of same to organize and successfully mobilise themselves only in preferred directions. This paper therefore subscribes to the idea that “the medium is the massage” and calls for the deployment of social media as preferable communication means to manage the situation given their amenability to youths’ communicative habits. This call draws from the necessity to reintegrate the breakaway component of the Nigerian political system in that, the development of isolative or withdrawal tendencies are contradictory to the principle of inclusiveness as hallmark of sustainable democracy. The paper relied on data from library sources and personal observation to arrive at this position.