Abstract
Importance of accuracy and conciseness of type and content of information being disseminated to the populace in respect of a development intervention to avoid misleading the populace cannot be overemphasised. Given the strategic importance of Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) in policy drive of Nigerian government and useful lesson it has for repositioning Nigerian Agriculture in a bid to salvage Nigeria’s economy dependence on oil, this study content analysed 193 ATA news in selected newspapers in Nigeria. Variables measured included news frames, frequency, space allotted and placement of ATA news. Data were analysed using both descriptive (frequency, percentage) and inferential (correlation and analysis of variance) statistics at α0.05. ATA news in Nigerian newspapers included press outcome, muster, courtesy call, commencement programmes, reports, analysis and gathering. There was a high coverage of ATA news in the first year (2012), with the Guardian allotting highest space (13203.5cm2) and the least by Nigerian Tribune (7987cm2). Majority of Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) news (98.5%) were placed in other pages of the newspapers. There was no significant difference between spaces allotted to ATA in the selected newspapers (F = 0.660). Time is apt for development advocates to promote placement of news on development issues in strategic positions in national dailies. Key words: Agricultural transformation agenda, content analysis, coverage, development communication, Nigerian newspapers.
Highlights
The World Bank and the United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP) reported that more than one billion people or one fifth of the world‟s population lives in extreme poverty
It can be inferred that seven categories namely; press outcome, muster, courtesy call, commencement programmes, reports, analysis and gathering were major frames Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) news were put
Most of the coverage of ATA news was by Vanguard and the Guardian newspapers, and was mostly in the first year (2012) with steady decline in subsequent years (2013 and 2014)
Summary
The World Bank and the United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP) reported that more than one billion people or one fifth of the world‟s population lives in extreme poverty. The Vanguard newspaper of April 11, 2014, reported that Nigeria ranked third on world poverty index as revealed by the World Bank President Jim Yong. The picture painted by these statistics is similar to what have been consistently reported by recognised world‟s bodies over the years. In an attempt to reverse some of these statistics and in apparent response to put Nigeria in better pedestal, successive governments in Nigeria over the years.
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