Strengthening Accountability Through Media in Nigeria - Final Evaluation

“...lack of knowledge of political processes, cynicism and apathy among ordinary Nigerians, and a culture of impunity were identified as major challenges undermining government accountability.”

This report presents a synthesis of all research undertaken to assess a number of media projects implemented under the Global Grant governance project, which was led by BBC Media Action in Nigeria between 2012 and 2016. The research was designed to understand the impact of the project on development outcomes among audiences and media practitioners and organisations. The report also reflects on the impact the project has had on the broader governance system, and in particular on improving accountability. The report contains four main sections: Section 1 summarises the project, including the background, the governance and media context of the country, and the project’s objectives (including its theory of change) and activities; section 2 describes the research approach; section 3 presents and discusses the evaluation’s findings; and section 4 offers some final conclusions.

As explained in the report, the project was implemented in order to address Nigerians’ low trust in institutions and unwillingness to engage in political processes, which was partly a result of the post-election violence of 2011 and widespread corruption. The project was started in 2012, just three years before the general election, and sought to rebuild Nigerians’ understanding of their democratic rights and their motivation to participate in decisions affecting their lives. As part of the Global Grant project, BBC Media Action produced four programmes broadcast weekly on over 190 radio stations. They included factual magazine formats (Talk Your Own - Make Naija Better and Mu Tattauna (Let’s Discuss)), which incorporated discussion and debate, and radio dramas (Story Story and Gatanan Gatanan Ku) in English, pidgin English, and Hausa. The combination of these outputs aimed to contribute to: enabling more accountable state-society relations, creating a society that is more resilient to conflict, and empowering people to participate in public dialogue and hold their leaders to account. While radio was the main medium used because of its wide reach and ability to attract a diverse audience, TV public service announcements (PSAs) were broadcast in the run-up to the 2015 election, encouraging Nigerians to vote without engaging in violence. A television version of the discussion show Talk Your Own was also broadcast in 2016.

The project also included capacity-strengthening activities for media practitioners working in broadcast partner stations, with the aim to improve their technical, editorial, and management skills to produce and broadcast trustworthy and engaging governance programming.

The findings are discussed related to five key impact areas: audience reach and profile; engagement with the programmes; impact on audience-level governance outcomes; impact on the media sector; and overall impact in contributing to improved accountability. The following is a summary as extracted from the executive summary:

“In a highly competitive media landscape, BBC Media Action’s governance programmes reached 52.8 million people in 2014 (and an estimated 64.6 million cumulatively), representing more than half the adult population of the country. One reason for this success was the brokering of radio partnerships that ensured distribution of radio content across the country. In contrast to other countries that held elections during the course of the Global Grant project, the Nigerian programmes managed to sustain their high level of audience engagement after the elections. This was achieved by: adapting the content to topical issues; transitioning from focusing on encouraging peaceful elections to holding elected officials to account; and encouraging officials to follow up on their electoral promises.

Across the five years, the project managed to increase the percentage of rural and female listeners. The Hausa outputs (Mu Tattauna and Gatanan Gatanan Ku) were particularly effective at reaching these groups in northern Nigeria.

The debate and discussion programmes were successful at enabling people to question officials directly and audiences appreciated hearing a diverse range of views and opinions. This speaks directly to the project’s objective of encouraging dialogue and understanding of diverse points of view.

The dramas were effective at role modelling how people could resolve conflicts, question officials and participate in civic life. By showcasing scenarios people could relate to, their storylines helped ordinary people and leaders understand their rights and responsibilities and how democratic processes work. Those exposed to these factual and drama outputs knew more, discussed more and participated more in politics even when controlling for other factors that may influence these outcomes (such as age, income, education and interest in politics). Despite Nigerians remaining cynical about the willingness and ability of politicians to respond to their needs, the programmes were particularly effective at encouraging people who had not participated in public life before to do so.

In 2016, audiences overwhelmingly agreed (92%) that the factual programmes played a role in holding government to account; they put leaders on the spot and served as a model for audiences to apply in their own communities. The research showed that the dramas also managed to encourage more accountable relationships via role modelling, prompting people to interact with the leaders in their communities. However, the expert panel mentioned a number of factors that prevented citizens from holding leaders to account, including: fear, low expectations of response, lack of enabling structures, lack of trust in the law and corruption.

The training, mentoring and capacity-strengthening partnerships were a vital part of the overall project, providing valuable production and editorial skills to broadcast partners that had little or none. Challenges remained, with some trainees reporting outside interference and pressure, lack of buy-in from management and financial challenges as ongoing obstacles that prevented them from producing and broadcasting high-quality and relevant programming.”