TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Title page i
Certification ii
Approval Page iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgement v
Table of Contents vii
List of Tables ix
Abstract x
CHAPTER ONE:
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study 1
Statement of the Problem 10
Purpose of the Study 11
Research Question 11
Significance of the Study 12
Scope of the Study 13
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 14
Conceptual Framework 14
Concept of Millennium Development Goals 16
Concept of Information/Information Dissemination 20
Information Sources 32
Challenges of Information Dissemination in Achieving the MDGs 34
Strategies for Enhancing Information
Dissemination in Review of Related Empirical Studies 38
Summary of Literature Review 44
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHOD 46
Design of the Study 46
Area of the Study 46
Population of the Study 47
Sample and Sampling Technique 47
Instrument for Data Collection 48
Validation of the Instrument 49
Method of Data Collection 49
Method of Data Analysis 49
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS 51
Summary of Results 59
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION,
IMPLICATION, RECOMMENDATION, LIMITATION, SUGGESTION AND CONCLUSION,
Discussion of Findings 60
Implications of the Study 65
Recommendations 66
Limitation of the Study 66
Suggestion for Further Studies 67
Conclusion 67
REFERENCES 70
APPENDIX A 76
APPENDIX B 83
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Mean rating and Standard deviation of
respondents on the channels of information dissemination on achievement of MDGs 51
Table 2: Mean rating and Standard deviation of respondents on the sources consulted to gather information for dissemination towards the achievement of MDGs 53
Table 3: Mean rating and Standard deviation of
respondents on the influence
of information dissemination on the achievement of
MDGs in the area of education, poverty reduction and health 54
Table 4: Mean rating and Standard deviation of
respondents on the
challenges of information dissemination on achievement of MDGs. 56
Table 5: Mean rating and Standard deviation of
respondents on the strategies that
will enhance information dissemination on achievement of MDGs. 58
ABSTRACT
The
study examined the Influence of Information Dissemination on the Achievement of
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) In Kogi State, Nigeria. Specifically, five
purposes and five research Questions guided the study. Related literature was reviewed under
conceptual framework, related empirical studies. The study adopted descriptive
survey design. The area of the study was Kogi west senatorial district, the
population of the study was 603 information staff in eight information agencies
in Kogi West Senatorial District of Kogi State. The sample of the study was 302
respondents representing 50% of the total population. A multi-stage sampling
procedure was adopted in selecting the sample for the study. Two instruments
were used for data collection i.e. the questionnaire and face-to-face interview
which were validated by three experts from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Direct delivery and retrieval method was employed in the administration and
retrieval of the questionnaire in order to minimize wastage. On the other hand,
a five item scheduled interview was employed to elicit responses from the
respondents. A face to face interview with key respondents was purposively
carried out by the researcher. Mean and standard deviations were use answer the
research questions that guided the study, therefore, a mean rating of 2.50 and
above was used as criterion level for accepting an item. The result of the study showed among
other things that; The channels of information dissemination towards the
achievement of MDGs are library, print media, radio, TV, twitter, facebook
interpersonal relationship, town crier among others, the sources consulted to
gather information for dissemination include books, newspapers, magazines,
research reports, online/internets, journals and consultation with the
grassroots, it was also found out that proper information
dissemination influences the achievement of MDGs in Kogi state.It was
recommended among other things that there should be provision of adequate ICT
facilities like the internet that can be accessible to everybody, there should
be provision of adequate manpower, more people should be trained on the use of
computer, the government should carry out public awareness campaign on the
objectives of MDGs, adequate public libraries should be built and technical
expertise to install and maintain electronic networks should be trained and
above all, adequate fund should be provided.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
of the Study
The problem of development has occupied the
attention of scholars, activists, politicians, and developmental workers, local
and international organizations for many years with an increased speed in the
last decade. Though there are different perspectives to development, there is a
general consensus that development could lead to good change manifested in
increased capacity of people to have control over materials access,
intellectual resources and ideology, and obtained physical necessities of life
such as food, clothing, shelter, employment, equality, sustainable development,
participate in government, adequate education among others. This is why some
people have argued that the purpose of development is to improve people’s lives
by expanding their choices, freedom and dignity. As the world was entering a
new millennium, acknowledging the centrality of human development, the United
Nations General Assembly in its millennium summit in 2002, adopted the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are commitments
made by world governments under the auspices of the United Nations Millennium
Declaration in September 2000, to address the problem of poverty and promote
sustainable development. Echezona and Okafor (2005) opine that, millennium
development goals repress ent a global partnership that has grown from the
commitments and targets established at the world summits of the 1990s.
The
millennium development goals (MDGs) are designed to bring about a positive
change in the lives of billions of people in the world. Countries of both the
developing and developed world may commit themselves to provide the resources
and policies to attain these goals. The MDGs are drawn from the actions and
targets contained in the millennium declaration that was adopted by 189 nations
and signed by 147 heads of state and government. According to the argument of
United Nations, attention has been drawn to the reality of the world that
countries are underdeveloped with precarious development indices. More than 1.2
billion people or about 20 percent of world’s population survive on less than
US $1 per day. The millennium summit held from 6th to 8th
September, 2000 in New York, the largest gathering declaration committing
nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a
series of time-bound targets that has become known as the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). At the millennium summit, world leaders agreed on a
set of goals to guide global development in the 21st
century. The MDGs has eight goals to be
achieved by the year 2015 that responded to the world’s main development
challenges. The Eight Goals according to United Nations (2000) as cited in
Selim (2003) are to: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve Universal
primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child
mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other
diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, and develop a global partnership
for development. The summit went ahead to enumerate these eight goals
considered of paramount important and termed them millennium goals.
It is true
that MDGs may reflect a global commitment to address the issue of human poverty
in a time-bound manner. But even with all the good intentions of the world,
realization of the commitments may not be easy and the path toward achieving
the MDGs may not be smooth one. The MDGs are designed to bring about a positive
change to the lives of billions of people in the world. They summarize the
development aspiration of the world as a whole. They include universally
accepted human values and right such as freedom from hunger, the right to basic
education and health, a responsibility to future generation, developing a
global partnership for development, poverty eradication and gender equality.
Despite these laudable objective and importance of MDGs, people seem to remain
in abject poverty in Africa with no proper awareness about health care service.
It is not yet clear the extent to which the information agencies such as
libraries, Mass media, archives, information and documentation centers and
information brokerage firms have been involved in the dissemination of
information to the public about the goals and strategies for realizing the MDGs.
The failure to disseminate the needed information may hinder the realization of
the MDGs in Kogi West Senatorial District which make people in that area to
continue to suffer from poverty and illiteracy, child and maternal mortality
may be on the increase and this may adversely affect the development in the
state as well.
In today’s world there are several trends that may
be acting as major structural constraints towards achieving the MDGs. No doubt,
there are regional as well as country variations in terms of these constraints,
yet a few key common ones easily identified include: Persistent human poverty:
this means many developing countries, nearly one in every five people is
undernourished, more than 850 million adult are illiterate, more than 1 billion
people are without access to safe water and about 2 billion people are without
electricity: High inequality: inequality takes many forms- in terms of access
to basic social services or productive resources, income, human development
outcomes and between socio-economic groups. There are certainly overlaps and
mutual reinforcement of various dimensions: Economic stagnation, at constant
inequality level, a country needs to grow by 3% or more to double income in a
generation. Yet of 155 countries with data, only 30 had annual per capita
income growth rates 3% in the 1990s. Among the rest, 54 countries saw annual
average income fall, and in 71 countries annual income growth was less than 3%:
Social exclusion: this denies the potentials of groups of people to make
significant contribution to the development process, and it excludes people
from participating in the decisions that affect their lives and it raises the
fear of human insecurity among affected groups. All these denial and exclusion
also make the achievement of MDGs quite difficult: Environmental degradation:
this poses a serious threat to MDGs, not only in terms of Goal 7, but also on
the other goals through its human impacts and it also negatively affect human
well-being: HIV/AIDS: today, about 42million people are living with HIV/AIDS,
not counting the 22 million who have already died of the disease. More than 70%
of those affected today and it has also left 13 million orphans in its wake.
Nigerian
Government have done so many things in order to achieve the set goals and also
have specifically address the problems of poverty reduction, education, gender equality and
empower women, reduce child mortality,
combat HIV And AIDS, malaria and other diseases and ensure environmental
sustainability in the country, some policy initiatives have been put in place
such as National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) and these was designed to drive the long term
goals of poverty reduction, employment generation, wealth creation, and value
reorientation in the country. According to Federal Government Report (2005) the
approach, apart from making the different tiers of government to use poverty
reduction as the target of development priorities, it will also bring about a
coordinate approach to managing poverty reduction in Nigeria.
Education: in order to
achieve the MDGs, Universal Basic Education Act passed in 2004 provides
compulsory free universal basic education for all children of primary and
junior secondary school age in Nigeria (Ali, 2006) which further reinforces the
national primary education goals and set targets for attaining universal
primary education by 2015.
Gender equality and empower women:
Nigerian government have adopted some policies to achieve MDGs such as the
National Policy on women which was adopted in 2000, articulates gender
mainstreaming in relevant sectors and Female Functional Literacy for the Health
(FFLH) and the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) is also responding to the
problems of illiterate and poor rural women of child bearing age (15-49), who
have missed school through Female Functional Literacy for Health (FFLH) project
(Federal Government Report, 2005).
Reduce child mortality: Nigerian government
have elaborated on so many reform such
as National Health Insurance Scheme, launched in mid-2005, the scheme will pool
fund for health system development as well as provide financial protection for
insured.
Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases:
the federal government of Nigeria in order to achieve MDGs has established the
National Action committee on AIDS (NACA) to combat the HIV/AIDS menace. Ensure
environmental sustainability: Nigerian government has developed many policies
to enhance the quality of environmental management. Some of them include
National Erosion & flood control policy 2004 policy Guideline on sanitary
inspection of premises, the researcher has discovered that, the above mentioned
MDGs have not been implemented in Kogi West Senatorial District of Kogi State.
And this may lead to high mortality rate, high rate of HIV/AIDS, high rate of
poverty, dropping out of school among others.
Operationally, millennium
development goals (MDGs) can be defined as commitment made by the United
Nations to encourage development by improving social and economic conditions in
world. Some of these MDGs could be
achieve through information which may help individuals to benefit from
government provisions.
One could
argue that information has come to represent the prime commodity of the present
age. Although the developing countries of the world may not have come to a firm
grasp with this reality, it cannot but be a statement, if not a reaffirmation
of an already established fact in the particular case of the developed nations.
It is now a common-place observation that the material prosperity of a nation
is linked almost directly to its information wealth and vice-versa. According
to MeCreadie and Rice (1999) information can be defined as what is transmitted
in a message from a sender to a receiver. The receiver interprets the message
as intended by the sender. There may be added value as the message is
disseminated or exchanged. MeCreadie and Rice (1999) asserted that, information
derived from a message by a reader or receiver depends on a wide range of
factors all of which affect his/her understanding of that message. These
include geographical location; social interest, educational, and professional
status.
According to Edoka as
cited in Echezona (2005), Information can be any relevant
fact or idea or assemblage of data of useful purpose communicated with the aim
of addressing, influencing or eliciting response that is capable of
development. Afolabi (2003), defined information as knowledge communicated or
received in relation to a particular subject. Eze (1999) opine that, for a
developing nation such as Nigeria that is characterized by problems or poor
state of affairs like mass poverty, poor condition of living, poor
infrastructural facilities, poor health care, economic under development,
primitive practices, customs and difficult technologies, tension, suspicion
among others. Information could be
important because, it may be needed in order to improve the environments in
terms of social, economic, cultural and political wellbeing of the people.
Whether published for mass circulation or result of research efforts made
available to colleagues in form of report books and non-printed materials,
information helps organization to be well managed and organized.
Also, Jacobson (1960)
as cited in Madden (2000) sees information as a resource. He asserts that
information comprises of three components (addresser, addressee and message).
While Van cited in Meyer (2005) views the importance of information resources
as one of those needed for societal development. Meyer (2005) gave nine basic
similarities between information and other traditional resources to include:
Information is acquired at a definite, measurable cost; information has a
definite value which may be quantified and treated as an accountable asset;
information consumption can be quantified; cost accounting can be applied to
control the cost of information; information has a clear life cycle;
information may be processed and refined so that raw materials (e.g. database)
are converted into finished product; substitute for any specific item or
collections of pieces of information are available and may be quantified and
choices are available to management in making trade-offs between different
grades, types and cost of information (Meyer 2005 as cited in Eaton and Bawden,
1991).
It is believed that information has so many sources.
That is, it must be generated from some where. Statrasts (2004) asserted that,
information source is an institution or individual that creates or brings about
a message. Abdulwahab (2007) opine that, the availability and free flow of
information through an effective dissemination network represents a necessary
pre-condition for the achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Abdulwahab further stated that a
combination of experience and new knowledge will, most likely, bring about
knowledge, which is quite vital for the healthy development of any society.
This is so much that development and prosperity have come to be as
knowledge-based as they are also dependent upon the dissemination and
application of different types of information. Ochogwu (2007) has identified
the following as channels of information dissemination; Libraries, mass media,
archives, information and documentation centre and information brokerage firms
among others.
For the purpose this study, information can be
defined as fact or detail communicated from the sender to receiver. Information constitutes message of human
experience-that is, what is transmitted, a signal or stimulus. It assumes a
response potential, transferred physically or electronically; evaluated or raw;
accurate or in accurate but always sought in an evaluated accurate sense. It
could be in any medium, in any language or on any subject. How if it is
then true that information, as often expressed by many experts, is a basic
human need, it therefore becomes even more fundamental for it to be
disseminated in such ways as could ensure its free and equal accessibility by
every member of a given society, irrespective of racial, religious,
geo-political and economic status of the recipients. Proper availability of information may lead to information
dissemination.
Information
dissemination is the process of conveying knowledge or fact from one person to
another person. The key partners in the development of information
dissemination component have free of management system. According to Ajibero(2011) information dissemination includes
the following: traditional, state and local, public sector agencies
(transportation and public works, transit, toll authorities, law enforcement),
commercial media, private sector traffic reporting services (distributing
through commercial media venues or through direct subscription to motorist),
local fleet operators (delivery services, taxis, among others). In some cases,
the owners/operators of major traffic generators (mails, tourist attractions,
annual special event promotions among others) could also be important partners
to include in the decision making process. Robinson (2000) defined information
dissemination as a process of making news or theories widely circulated with
the aim of sowing widely. Information dissemination means method one uses to
commutate knowledge, facts known to others, (Adepoju, 2001).
In the same vein,
Adepoju (2001) opine that, information dissemination involve passing
information or references to people about available current materials which may
be of interest and value to them.Abdulwahab(2007) opine that, the efficiency of
technologies generated and disseminated depends on effective communication
which is the key process of information dissemination. Information
dissemination may be emphasized for changes and development. The citizens of a
country could be reached with the necessary information in order for the
country to move forward on the development continuum. In view of this, Issa
(2004) asserts that in Nigeria, the populace suffers from an acute low
productivity, social and economic retrogression due mainly to ignorance which
also results from either inadequate or total absence of information
dissemination.
The
information dissemination agents have the responsibility of disseminating
information as they may provide the public with opportunities for information.
These opportunities will be accessible to all groups of society irrespective of
age, gender, and ethnic affiliation (IFLA, 2003). Information dissemination plays important
role in achieving the MDGs in the sense that it gives practical information for
problem solving, it spreads awareness in the world about people’s rights,
privileges as well as their responsibilities, it sensitize people on the importance and relevance of information among
others. Information could be disseminated through channel of information
dissemination. Channel of information dissemination refers to the means of
transfer or exchange of information from person to person or from one place to
another. It is an action that produces a reaction, whether positive or
negative, if communication has taken place (Omogor, 2013). In addition, Fayose
(2002) says that, information delivery is not a one way affair. There must be a
sender to transmit the message and receiver to make appropriate decision on how
the rest of the exchange should continue. This involves the exchange of ideas,
facts, opinion, attitudes and beliefs between people.
Omogor
(2013) adds that, the ability to communicate and pass on information is a key
factor in all culture whether literate or not. Therefore, there are channels of
information dissemination about MDG to Kogi state citizens irrespective of their
educational status. There are channels through which information are
disseminated in order to achieve the information need of people especially the
MDGs. Some of these channels according to Dowlin (2009) are; Libraries such as
national library, public library, academic library among others. Mass media
such as: electronic media example radio and television, print media: such as
magazine, bulletin, newspaper among others, information centers: such as
information and documentation centers and information brokerage firm and
archives, local media: such as town crier and repackaging of information, and
ICT/social networks: such as Youtube, Facebook and GSM.
The development of society and individuals can only be attained through the ability of well-informed citizens to exercise the democratic rights and to play active roles in the society (Drotner, 2005). Therefore, if the desired information about MDGs is disseminated to the public it could go a long way towards the achievement of the MDGs. Achievement of MDGs can be defined as ability of the nation to accomplish the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
INFLUENCE OF INFORMATION DISSEMINATION ON THE ACHIEVEMENT OF MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDGs) IN KOGI STATE, NIGERIA
