International Journal of Sub-Saharan African Research (IJSSAR)

Background: Nigeria being one of the thickly populated countries in the world has undergone various challenges in the areas of defining the true meaning of federalism, demonstration of good democratic governance and equal sharing of natural resources.
Objective: This study investigated public perception of broadcast media reporting of political issues in Nigeria with special focus on Resource control, Federalism and Democratic governance.
Method: This study utilised descriptive survey and structured interview approaches. Multistage sampling method - Purposive and Simple random- was used respectively. Six states namely Kogi, Ondo, Bayelsa Bauchi, Nassarawa and Zanfara states were selected from the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.900 sample size was selected from the overall universe population of 11,074,962. Descriptive Statistics was employed to analyze the data using tables, frequencies and percentages. Results: Findings indicated that funds allocated to states were not fully impactful which calls for the need to articulate for better performance and equity. Important areas such as education , health, housing, and power infrastructure are experiencing marginal decline, while the selected states are witnessing irreconcilable ambitious of chauvinistic elites who continue to corrupt the public resources.
Conclusion: Despite the fact that the selected states were bedeviled by series of setbacks based on the respondent responses, Nigeria with its enormous natural endowment should be able to show meaningful federalism antecedents that can indicate genuine attempt to achieve true federalism and democratic governance capable of achieving essential infrastructural development and equity in resource sharing and control. Unique Contributions: This study has shown the increase efforts of broadcast media in clamoring for equitable sharing of Nigeria’s natural resources, genuine plays of federalism and promotion of democratic governance values that are strong enough to better the country. Hopefully, policy makers, communication experts, community leaders, political scholars, ethnic groups and other stakeholders will find this new insight useful in planning the country’s policy implementation.
Key Recommendation: Government should strike balance in the distribution of resource allocation while institutions that are responsible for policy making, sharing of resource allocations, implementations and oversight functions should be proactive enough to live up to their expectations by responding to the requests of their citizens. In addition, broadcast media should be encouraged to be more committed in their campaigns for balanced resource control and distribution for societal development.