CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Communication dates back many centuries ago, right from the wall to the present use of scientific and methodical approaches in different spheres of human pre-occupation opportunities in an orderly target and result oriented manner.
Mass communication media are made up of print and electronic/broadcast media. However, Radio will be our main focus on this work. Radio is a medium of communication which is established for the promotion of economic development with a maximum coverage. Radio is also established for enhancement of educational development, stimulation of political participation and arousing National security.
Radio is the one of the most dramatic medium with a high audience reach both in the urban and rural areas respectively. Radio coverage is no less than 90 percent effective, the use of vernacular language to convey message makes radios a very flexible, portable and available medium, it is also inexpensive.
Every government, no matter its policy recognizes role of the media in combating drug abuse. Undoubtedly radio makes a greater contribution towards societal improvements, so with this in mind and the features already mentioned above, it can rightly be said that radio is the hub that holds the wheel of society together and it has a role to play in combating the various scourge that afflicts man today and one of such problem that has threatened the existence of man is drug abuse.
However, this study is on the role of Radio Nigeria Enugu in combating drug abuse among university students, a study of Enugu State University of Science Technology Students (ESUT), Agbani Campus.
Although Nigeria as a whole was known and considered a very great nation, rich in human and mineral resources, she was proud to be. She was financially, politically, economically and socially strong. Many countries wanted to invest in her, as others wanted just to be associated with her bounty, as they considered the cost of living in Nigeria very low, she was honoured both at home and abroad. She was rightly called the giant of Africa. The glory of Nigeria was simple, wonderful and great and she was the talk of the day. Nigeria in short was the pace-setter as far as the African continent was concerned.
One may rightly say that Nigeria was ascending to the heights in the post. However, striving to reach the peak of glory, politically and economically, along the way, she started descending as far as her glory was concerned. It is a Nigeria is not mentioned favorably in such an assessment, a situation which would not have arisen twenty or over ten years ago.
There is more and more insincerity both in the government sector and in the private sector. Crime is on the increase. Hired assassins are on rampage. The government seems incapable of doing anything. Everyone is looking for a messiah. Life in Nigeria has turned out to look like the science fiction book “animal farm” by George Orwell.
Nigeria has many serious problems, which have very serious health, social and economic implications on the society. According to Anekwe (2004), a higher percentage of our youths within the age arrange of eighteen (18) and youth between the age of twenty five (25) and twenty eighty years (28) have tried one drug or the other ad are tied to drugs. A high percentage of those admitted of mental related problems also come from the same group. Thus the drug epidemic is gradually eroding the manpower base and future of Nigeria.
Before we advance further, it is very necessary we give a clear definition of drug. The advanced learner’s dictionary of current English defines drugs as substance used for medical purpose or substance producing stupor or insensibility. It also describes abuse as misuse of drug, or wrong drug usage. Drugs that are not generally accepted, medical ground may be a term preferred to the abuse of drugs in Nigeria. Nigeria has big problems, one of which is the serious social and economic implication in the society.