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Information Dissemination and Access for Political Empowerment of Rural People in the Northern States of Nigeria: the Role of the Information Professional
(LIBRARY AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT FORUM, 2005) Daudu, H. M.
The paper defines empowerment and state the role access to information on politics can play in empowering rural people in the Northern Stales of Nigeria. Rural people form a significant part of the population of Nigeria and so are entitled to information just as any other Nigerian. Access to information by rural people is enhanced by the channels used to disseminate it. One of the problems that rural people face is that politicians use their ignorance to renege on the promises made during campaigns. If they are in empowered with information, they can make up their minds who to vote for. Two research questions were raised and answered. The research method used for this paper was survey method and two thousand study subjects were used as a sample. 'The study found that most channels used to disseminate information to rural people are verbal. for example, the use of colleagues, friends, radio, village heads, political stalwarts and similar groups. 'These do not provide good channels for disseminating objective information on politics. It was suggested that information workers should pick up this challenge of disseminating information using appropriate channels and ensuring access to information by establishing Community Information Centres in rural areas.