Dysfunctional Trends in Nigeria’s Broadcast Content and Slide towards Educational Paucity of the Nigerian Child

Abstract

The broadcast media exist to cater for all segments of the audience including the youths. They strive to achieve this by offering fresh information and trendy entertainment. Their offering, however, could and sometimes do have negative, unintended consequences. This discourse examines how programming by the broadcast media, driven largely by the desire for returns on investment, has had dysfunction of effects on the youths. The discourse encourages the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, to live up to its duty of pushing broadcast stations to comply with the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code. The paper also encourages the broadcast media to reinvent their programming to address the needs of the youths and to ensure that their programming has a human face, driven less by economics but more by service to their audience.

Key words: Programming, curriculum, young ones, responsibilities, influence, obligations