IIARD International Institute of Academic Research and Development

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES (IJELCS )

E-ISSN 2545-5702
P-ISSN 2695-2157
VOL. 9 NO. 4 2024
DOI: 10.56201/ijelcs.v9.no3.2024.pg137.156

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South-South Residents’ Awareness of Nema’s Communication Approach During The 2019 Flooding Management in Nigeria

GODWIN, Judith Worigwarum, UDOUDO, Aniefiok Jackson, NWACHUKWU, Fautinus Ginikanwa

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Abstract

This study examined the South-South residents’ awareness of NEMA’s communication approach during the 2019 flooding management in Nigeria. The objective of the study was to find out the communication strategies that were employed by the National Emergency Management Agency in communicating flooding information to the target audiences in 2019 in South-South Nigeria. Participatory communication theory was used for the theoretical framework. The study employed the survey research design and the research instruments were questionnaire. The study population comprised of residents of South-South Nigeria, within the age category of 20 to 84 which was 14,180,716 and using the Keyton’s Sampling Technique, the sample size of 384 was drawn from the population. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics with frequency table of values and measures such as: weighted mean score. The study revealed out that the level of awareness of the 2019 flooding received by the affected communities in South-South Nigeria from NEMA before the flood incident was very poor and lacked the collaboration of the leaders and residents of the communities, the media/media of communication that NEMA and residents of the affected communities in South-South Nigeria employed before, during and after the flooding in 2019 comprised of the mass media, interpersonal communication and traditional communication, majority of residents of the communities in South-South Nigeria could not reach out directly to NEMA during the flooding in 2019 because they did not have direct contact with the agency. The study concluded that the communication strategies of NEMA were not sufficient in stimulating the residents to carry out their recommendations in 2019 flooding, but were complemented by the mobilisation efforts of the leaders and the eagerness of the residents as a result of their previous flooding experiences. The study recommended that NEMA should focus more efforts on imp

keywords:

South-South Residents, Awareness, Communication Approach, 2019 Flooding,

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