The Boko Haram conflict has inflicted untold hardship to the peace and society of the Northeast region in Nigeria and surrounding countries. Within the Nigerian front, the military has been mandated to engage the insurgents and bring them to submission. Opinions on the position of the media in helping the government to bring the conflict to a conclusion were divided as reports emerged that newspaper articles have caused low morale within the military during combat. This study employed content analysis on four Nigerian newspapers, Daily Trust, Premium Times, The Nation and Vanguard to investigate how military casualties were reported from 2014-2016. The research was based on the Framing theory of the press. Findings showed that 185 reports mentioned 33 military casualties. There were no images of military casualties found in any of the reports, where mentions of military casualties were predominantly found in the body and concluding parts of articles. The study found no evidence to support the claim that media reports were to blame for soldiers not being able to confront the Boko Haram insurgents. This study recommends cooperations between the media and military to coordinate efforts to end the conflict.

The thrust of this study was predicated on the need to ascertain the extent to which Nigerian journalists, especially those in Portharcourt metropolis, have integrated the use of information technology (IT) in their professional repertoire. The objectives among others included the need to streamline the challenges, if any, journalists face in the adoption of new information technologies (ITs). The study by its nature necessitated survey. To this end, one hundred and twenty (120) journalists were sampled with a view to dovetailing their responses within a scholarly spectrum. Findings revealed that 67% of the respondents use IT facilities in their day to day operations. Data further revealed that IT facilities in the various media houses studied were obsolete and inadequate. The challenges faced by journalists in the deployment of IT facilities were identified as lack of access to emerging information technologies as well as the absence of a framework for the training and retraining of journalists on information technology hardware and software configurations. It was therefore recommended that media proprietors should provide as part of the work environment, IT facilities to enable journalists discharge their duties in line with international best practices

The thrust of this paper was predicated on how well the poverty alleviation agencies in Rivers state have been able to streamline the precepts of their programmes to square with the dynamics of diffusion of innovation with a view to according sustainability to poverty eradication. Two government agencies concerned with poverty alleviation -The Adolescent Project (TAP) and Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI) -were purposively sampled based on operational visibility between 1999 till date. Analysis was done through focal group discussions in the form of Participant Cluster Appraisal (PCA). Discussions revealed that the core programmes of the agencies did not permeate the grassroots. It was also revealed that the schemes were grossly ineffectual. It was further observed by aggregation that the schemes did not engender a better quality of life for baseline demographics since the vocational skills acquisition programmes did not translate into entrepreneurial ventures for participants. This by deduction was due to the fact that the diffusion of innovation pattern adopted by these agencies was predominantly downward and this made the participants to respond based on a bandwagon effect rather than a conviction of their innermost potentials and desires. In other words, the diffusion of innovation pattern of the agencies was vertical rather than lateral and this accounted for the predominant lack of sustainability. It was therefore recommended that the dialogic and horizontal pattern of diffusion of innovation should be adopted by poverty alleviation agencies so as to allow for collectivity of will among stakeholders. This by projection will evolve a synergistic framework that will ensure sustainability.

With the down turn in the Nigerian economy occasioned by the menace of oil theft in the Niger Delta region, this study sought to analyse how the Nigerian press, through content, stimulated highlights that may help curb the menace. This necessitated content analyses of two newspapers and a magazine. The Guardian and This Day were purposively selected based on the fact that they are foremost national dailies with widespread readership as outlined by the Audit Bureau of Circulation while Tell magazine was selected based on its ideological posture and national spread. The third quarter of 2013 formed the period of study. Thirty-six issues of the newspapers/magazine spread across twelve weeks were selected and studied using a constructed calendar. Inter-coder reliability stood at 0.73. Findings revealed that the newspapers/magazine studied devoted less than 2% of their total news space to straight news on the subject matter with about 3% on features. For the editorial and advertorial spectrum, a lateral 0% was observed. Deductively, the newspapers/magazine studied did not devote significant space to advocacy. The findings further revealed that the reportage given to the subject matter by the newspapers/magazine was not sufficient to draw attention to the menace of oil theft and its attendant consequences. It was therefore recommended that Nigerian newspapers and magazines should focus content on issues of socio-economic importance. It was further recommended that Nigerian newspapers and magazines should intensify advocacy for proactive policies that will stem the tide of oil theft while paving way for egalitarianism in the Nigerian socio-economic sphere.

The media have been accused of bias against the military by framing Boko Haram group as being superior thereby making better-armed soldiers afraid of confronting the group in open battle. This accusation was without any empirical underpinning, thus this study objectives were to identify the framing patterns used by Nigerian newspapers in the coverage of military operations against the Boko Haram group in NorthEast Nigeria. Four national dailies, Daily Trust, Premium Times, The Nation and Vanguard, were analyzed to find out the framing patterns in the reportage of military operations against Boko Haram to ascertain if the frames were more pro-military or anti-military. Hinged on the framing theory, the research method was content analysis. Inter-coder reliability was tested using the coefficient of reliability suggested by Chadwick et al. (1984). Findings showed that the Injured/Arrest/Capture/Death of Boko Haram members frame was predominant across three newspapers (Daily Trust, Premium Times, The Nation) which made up 22% of the frames while Vanguard emphasized Cooperation frame with 11% of the total frames. Results also indicated that there was a 24% prevalence of the 17 frame categories used in the study. This shows that Nigerian newspapers reported the military favorably with 80% of the frames. Overall, findings do not support the statement that the media are to be blamed for the shortcomings of the military in the fight against the insurgents. Other factors like corruption, non-motivation of personnel amongst a host of others should be investigated.