Audience Perception and Trust of EFCC’s Anti Corruption Campaign and Public Relations Strategies by Lagos State Residents

Abstract

Since the transition to democratic governance from 1999, the economic survival and global reputation of Nigeria has been linked to her ability to combat corruption and engender confidence across all strata of our national life. The establishment the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) indicated a strong intent to combat the menace thereby allowing for investor and citizen’s confidence both domestically and internationally.  The EFCC as an agency of Government (and public institutions’) engage in public relations but this tend to be perceived with skepticism and the extent to which the PR activities have influenced public perception of the commission is largely unknown. This study examined audience perception and trust of EFCC’s anti-corruption campaign and PR strategies with focus on Lagos State residents. The study is anchored on the Perception theory and adopted a convergent parallel type of mixed-methods approach, which allowed for quantitative and qualitative data to be collected simultaneously but analysed separately. A non-random sample size of 384 Lagos residents was used for the quantitative analysis; while a purposive sampling was used for the qualitative part. The research instrument for the quantitative analysis was a structured questionnaire which were disseminated online (through the use of Google form). For the qualitative analysis, a face-to-face interview was conducted for two senior officers of the Commission’s public affairs and communications unit. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive and thematic methods, with a Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.782, indicating good reliability. Result from analysed data revealed that PR activities of EFCC had significance on exposure to EFCC’s anti-corruption messages via radio, TV and social media platforms with posts such as press releases on arrest of criminals and announcements of investigations and media interviews (β = .37; t = 7.74; p < 01). Furthermore, the PR programmes also had significant impact on the trust of the commission (β = .31; t = 6.38; p < 01). Interestingly, about half of the respondents (47.9%) do not believe some of the arrests shown on TV are genuine, suggesting that some members of the public have skepticism about the genuineness of some of the activities of the EFCC.  Also, the outcome confirmed that EFCC PR programmes has significant influence on the public’s perception of the commission in tackling corruption (β = .34; t = 7.08; p < 01). The study concludes that while the EFCC’s PR programmes have a significant positive impact on the public's exposure to EFCC activities, there is limited trust in the genuineness of its efforts to tackle corruption and related crimes. It is recommended that the commission substantiate its arrests and prosecutions with verifiable facts to increase public credibility. Furthermore, the study suggests that the commission should explore more innovative PR strategies tailored to different audience segments, through empirical research, to strengthen its outreach and effectiveness.