Pragmatic Acts in Selected Nigerian Newspaper Headlines on Economic Hardship

Social realities manifest through discourse. As such, it has been established that discourse is not neutral or apolitical in the representation of human realities (Fairclough, 1995). In Nigeria, socioeconomic challenges are brought to the masses through different governments’ socioeconomic policies that cripple the expectations of ordinary citizens. This reality manifests through media representations. Thus, this study examines the pragmatic act deployed in selected Nigerian newspaper headlines from July, 2020 to 2024 as a reaction to Nigeria’s socioeconomic realities. Drawing on pragmatic act theory, this study investigates four selected news headlines from The Guardian, Punch, This Day, and Leadership from 2020 to 2024. The data were analyzed through qualitative methods and content analysis. The analysis shows that reporting hardship and accountability in governance is the dominant pragmatic act in the selected news headlines on economic hardship in Nigeria. It further reveals that this pragmeme is realized through practs such as warning, rebuke, lamenting and reporting. The study concludes that news headlines constitute a viable platform for tackling socioeconomic challenges by demanding accountability and equity from the government.