PROPAGANDA AND ETHNIC CONFLICTS IN NIGERIA: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This article set out to examine the roles played by propaganda in the period before and after independence in Nigeria. The paper examined the different propaganda strategy employed by Nigerian politicians and military leaders during the period of this study. Scholars have given much attention to conflict in the pre and post independent Nigeria but less attention to propaganda and hate speech and its effects in post independent Nigeria. This work fills the gap by dealing extensively on the subject. The work discovered that propaganda was used by both the print and electronic media even before it was widely employed during the Nigerian civil war. The studies examine the different propaganda stroke adopted during the conflict years in Nigeria. The study proffered that lessons can be learnt from history especially today where hate speech and fake news are the order of the day