WhatsApp chats and attitude expressions of insecurity in Nigeria

This study investigated WhatsApp posts on insecurity issues in Nigeria to understand how Nigerians discuss and express concerns on matters of insecurity. In recent years, Nigeria has experienced an unprecedented and heightened level of insecurity challenges. These challenges, ranging from insurgency, assassinations, abductions, kidnappings to armed robberies have been matters of grave concern to Nigerians. Not only has the country suffered immense setback, but these have also left citizens traumatised, leaving in their trail countless deaths, maimed citizens, rapes, loss of properties, displaced communities and residents, and attacks on schools, students, police, military facilities and personnel. Consequently, the Nigerian citizenry have taken to different social media platforms to express their concerns. Through the lens of Content Analysis, the current study examined WhatsApp communications to identify common lexes and themes, the social reality created by those themes/ categories as well as the projected underlying attitude of Nigerians regarding insecurity in the country. While the outcome of the research indicates that the choice of language resources in expressing concerns on insecurity is premised, first, on the subject matter and then, on the psychological state of the discussants, lexes that denote trauma, insecurity and violence are more predominant than other lexical categories identified in the study.