Media Framing of the Ruga Settlement Initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria and its implication on Government interest

Abstract

The escalation of the herder-farmer conflict in Nigeria in the last few years has attracted media attention and generated reports. A recent federal government plan to solve the recurring herders-farmers' conflict through its Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) settlement initiative became a subject of national controversy and led to its abrupt termination. The media in Nigeria gave extensive coverage on the issue using different frames from the day the approval of the initiative was announced, May 21, 2019 to when it was suspended on 4th July, 2019. This paper examines the ways Daily Trust and Punch framed the RUGA settlement initiative and the implication of the frames on government interest. This paper sought to determine the types of frames, the tones of the frames, the dominant frames, especially, considering the selected newspapers are based in the two ends of the geographical cardinal points of the country (North and South). The paper further looked at the possible implications of the frames on government interest in respect of the RUGA initiative. Through content analysis, a census of dataset of articles, representing a coverage of RUGA settlement Scheme was used for the study (from the first announced on 21 May, 2019 to when it was suspended on July 4, 2019 and one week after it was suspended July 11, 2019). The study found that Daily Trust Newspaper framed the Ruga issue more than Punch Newspaper. Bothe Punch and Daily Trust Newspapers had more political and cultural frames than other frames (Punch had more cultural frames while Daily Trust had more of Political frames). Both newspapers had more negative tones than the positive in framing the Ruga settlement scheme. The implication of the findings, considering the frames is that irrespective of the potentials of the RUGA initiative, it would be difficult to get public support and even government at the state levels. The RUGA settlement scheme showed how media sway narratives. This study concludes that Daily Trust and Punch newspapers framed the RUGA settlement scheme issue more of political and cultural and downplaying important frames such as quality of life frames and health and safety frames