THE CRISIS OF HEGEMONY IN NIGERIA: STATE AND PRESS RELATIONS IN THE BABANGIDA YEARS
THE CRISIS OF HEGEMONY IN NIGERIA: STATE AND PRESS RELATIONS IN THE BABANGIDA YEARS
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Date
1999-10
Authors
MOHAMMED, Jubril Bala
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Abstract
This is a study about the process of hegemony. It examines the theory of hegemony and
focuses on the effort by the state in the tenure of General Ibrahim Babangida to foist its hegemony
within the polity and, specifically the role of the press therein.
The study is specifically woven around two research problems: First, to examine the
theory of hegemony, its constituent elements, instances, varieties and manifestations. Second, to
examine the potential and concrete use the state made of the press in foisting its hegemony in the
period under review and with what success.
Relevant data for the study were gathered from three sources: the library, interviews with
notable personalities including General Babangida himself and others in the press and, content
analysis of a sample of newspapers that served as units of analysis. The theory of hegemony
constructed from the Marxia approach of class and class struggle as against elite perspective
provided framework of analysis in the study.
After outlining elements of the research design and a reasonable exposition of the
theoretical framework all in chapter one, a review of the foundation and evolution of the Nigerian
press and its place and role in the process of hegemony, particularly in the Babangida period
formed the mainstay of chapter two. The review of the economic and political policies of the
Babangida administration formed the content of chapter three of the study.
Three hypotheses were tested each in chapters four, five and six. Data gathered
therefrom not only confirmed each of the hypotheses but a statistical treatment of the
findings in each case revealed that the relationships between the variables therein are
indeed significant.
In chapter seven, which is the last, the central argument of the study was
established. The study has established that the press has contributed immensely in the
process of the legitimation of the administration of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida
in its eight-year tenure, and at the same lime it promoted the hegemony of the state in the
same period. This favourable posture of the press in the period under study was attributed
to the cohesion that the bourgeoisie attained for most part of the tenure of Babangida. In
the same vein the study has established that the' relationship between Babangida and the
press in the last one year of his tenure after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential
election undermined the legitimacy of the Babangida administration and challenged the
hegemony of the state at the same time. It automatically stands to reason therefore, that the
Nigerian Press lacks the capacity, by virtue of its dominantly bourgeois philosophical
orientation and ownership structure to positively contribute in relation, first, to the struggle
for the revolutionary transformation of the extant social and political order and; second, to
the foundation of a popular (that is working as against bourgeois class oriented) democratic
alternative political framework germane to the social liberation and independent
development of Nigeria.
Description
A Dissertation Submitted to the Postgraduate School,
Ahmadu Bello University, in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
(Ph.D.)
Department of Political Science
Faculty of Social Sciences
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Keywords
CRISIS,, HEGEMONY,, NIGERIA, STATE,, PRESS RELATIONS,, BABANGIDA YEARS