The role of social media in creating political awareness and in the mobilization for social protests in Nigeria: A case study of the EndSARS Protest

The role the social media plays in democracy have drawn the attention of scholars with several research conducted. In this regards scholar have conducted different research on several topics and issue. This research work investigates the role played by social media in creating political awareness and as a tool for mobilization for social protests. In Nigeria, just like in several other democracies, both old and nascent, social media has emerged to rival the traditional media by becoming a public sphere through which citizens can collectively deliberate and discuss socio-economic and political matters as they affect their lives and the entire country. Though social protests have always been a part of Nigerian political history and development, the EndSARS Social Protest was unique and spectacular in terms of the critical and central role played by social media, especially Twitter. In this social protest, it was massively used and deployed by participants to sensitize and mobilize Nigerians, raise their political consciousness and awareness, give confidence to Nigerians that after all, with the power of social media, they have the power to engage the government and hold it accountable for its actions and inactions. Fueling the engine of social media as a vehicle for social movement is its readiness to promote inclusiveness and accessibility by ordinary citizens, both in old and nascent democracies. It is in this regards that young Nigerians played a critical role in the EndSARS social movement as the social media provided them with a platform to get involved in the governing process of their country, jettisoning conservative and apathetic politics of the older generation for radical, critical and political activism. Hence the purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of social media on political awareness and in mobilizing for social protests. For its analysis, the research relies on four important concepts: Public Sphere, Democracy, social media and Social Movement. These concepts are very key to understanding the role of social media in promoting political efficacy and social protests and demonstrations. We find them appropriate in analyzing shades of ideas regarding the social media providing a public sphere through which citizens can be made to trust their ability to engage their government, influence its decisions, policies and programs, hold it accountable and even change it.