THE EFFECTS OF MASS MEDIA ON THE MORALITY OF THE MUSLIM YOUTH : A CASE STUDY OF GOMBE METROPOLIS

ABSTRACT

There is no gain saying the fact that, the use of mass media has become part and parcel of peoples’ lives to the extent that no home is free from at least one or more of its agent’s’ influence either positively or otherwise. This trend however, translates the level of accommodation media gadgets received from the modern man simply to entertain, educate, and bring ease in the accomplishment of difficult tasks and to equally complement other works done by man. As a result, mass media becomes an embodiment of positive and/or negative effects depending on the usage. Against this backdrop, the research sets to critically analyze the effects of both electronic and print media on the religio-moral fabric and by extension; the socio-economic and educational spheres of the engine force of every earthly community-the youths. Of Gombe metropolis in this regard, with a view to enlightening the populace on the detriments of abuse of the media and propose for its positive usage and highlight the derivable benefits. To accomplish this task, we deployed consultation of library materials, personal interview and observation as fact-finding techniques and historical and descriptive research methodologies. However, the outcome of the research reveals that, despite the positive impacts the mass media agents have on humanity through the current experience of technological advancement in areas of E-Learning, E-Commerce, E-Banking, etc., nevertheless, they still bring some obvious negative effects thereby making the youth more exposed to pornography, media violence, character assassination etc. through internet surfing and watching destructive videos which in turn challenge the moral ethical values of the younger generation and the society as a whole.

CHAPTER ONE

PRELIMINARIES

1.0 Introduction

In this first chapter, we would concentrate on the preliminaries of the research work. This includes the general background of the research, statement of the research problem, scope and limitation of the research, aims and objectives of the research, the research methodology adopted and review of some related literature followed by notes and references to the chapter.

1.2 Background of the Research

To begin with, the area under study – Gombe; initially, it was an Emirate, situated at the North-Eastern Nigeria, along the Gongola valley. It was founded in 1784 and consolidated in 1824/25 by Abubakar bin Uthman bin Aliyu (alias Bubayero), popularly called Modibbo Buba

Yero,1 one of the Lieutenants during the period of Uthman Dan Fodio’s 1804 Jihad in the then Hausa Land, now known as the Northern Nigeria,

then it functioned as one of the Emirates of the old Sokoto Caliphate.2

1

Moreover, during Gen. Sani Abacha’s military dictatorship’s move for more states’ creation in 1996, Gombe emerged as one of the additional.