International Journal of Sub-Saharan African Research (IJSSAR)

Background: The rice policy of the Nigerian Government that was introduced in April 2016, came with a stringent order, which led to the ban of rice through the land borders. Also, household food security became precarious since the rice policy was introduced. Thus, the task of influencing perception of the masses for a favourable evaluation of the rice policy requires the use of framing on social media platform like Facebook, to influence the public. Objectives: This study investigated how Nigerian government under the administration of late President Muhammadu Buhari framed the rice policy on Facebook. Methods: The study adopted conent analysis. Forty-eight posts from April to December, 2016 on government accounts - Aso Rock Villa; Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development or Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and Muhammadu Buhari, were content analysed using a coding sheet. The analysis was done using descriptive statistics and presented using frequency tables. The content categories for the data collected were issue specific frames; issue generic frames; episodic frames and thematic frames. The unit of analysis are graphics, texts, pictures and videos on rice. Inter-coder reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. The analysis across four coded items and four coders yielded a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.95, indicating excellent internal consistency and reliability of the coding instrument. Results: Majority of the posts on rice by the Buhari government on its Facebook handles, were issue specific. This means that most of the posts on rice on Facebook that were posted on select government Facebook handles for this study, directly focused on the issues. In achieving its framing of the rice policy on Facebook platform, the government made use of graphics, texts, videos and images.
Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it was concluded that the government social media handlers were not efficient as they reported few posts about the rice policy during the Buhari administration. With the radical nature at which the government started the rice policy in 2016, to have posts on the rice policy, as little as 48 posts on the select government handles, was not encouraging.
Unique Contribution: This study has offered new perspective into the increasing usage and influence of social media platforms in driving the policies of the government to the public. Importantly, policymakers, and communication experts will find this study useful in preparing communication channels for popularising government policies through the social media. Key Recommendations: The study recommends that the Nigerian government under President Tinubu should continue to use the social media to drive the rice policy, since it is a policy that is geared towards impacting the lives of the people. Also, the framing of the rice policy by the Nigerian government should not be limited only to Facebook. Other social media platforms with strong followers should be explored.