Television Broadcasting and the Democratization Process in Nigeria: The Successful and Unsuccessful Story

This article assesses the performances and challenges of television broadcasting in the democratization process in Nigeria. The historical discourse identifies both successes and challenges of both the military and civilian governments in the management of television broadcasting for the facilitation of democratization process. The successes achieved by the military governments centre on expansion of the industry while those recorded by the civilian governments had to do with consolidation of the expansion. The challenging aspect of television broadcasting under the military largely had to do with restricted access and operation along sectional lines. The civilian governments on the other hand politicized and introduced negative commercialization of television broadcasting. Also, under the civilian governments, television broadcasting is heavily involved in unethical practices. To use television broadcasting to contribute meaningfully to the democratization process in Nigeria, the paper recommends the strengthening of regulatory framework, making television broadcasting wholly an affair of the private sector, introducing the community television broadcasting project, and encouraging the civil societies and professional associations to advocate for best practices in the industry.