Political socialization and political participation in Nigeria. A study of Benue State

Master's Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Politics - Region: Africa, , language: English, abstract: The general objective of this study is to examine the relationship between political socialization and political participation in Nigeria. Political Socialization is a process by which citizenship orientation are formed, transmitted and conditioned by development in the political, social and economic realities of a given political entity, shapes the political beaviour and disposition of the citizenry. Hooghe (2004), holds that through political socialization, people of all ages are put through the process teaching and learning about all aspect of political system. this knowledge acquired through socialization, shapes the character of the citizenry and forms their orientation towards participating in politics or being apathetic to the whole political process. Thus it can be inferred that political participation in any given social-political system is conditioned greatly by the form of political socialization acquired over time. Ntalaja (2004), observes in the same vein that the level of political socialization and attachment that citizens have towards their countries is a function of ability or readiness of the country to justify the essence of its existence and fundamentally embarking on proactive citizenship education.