STUDENTS' PERCEPTION OF STUDENTS LOAN POLICY ON TWITTER (X)

ABSTRACT

This research examines students' perception of the students loan policy on Twitter (X).The central idea of this work was to analyse the perception of students about the recent students loan policy in Nigeria and the influence of social media on perception and public opinion. The study was anchored on the Agenda Setting theory and Social Judgement theory. The survey research design was adopted in this work and the total population of the study is 902 students of the department of mass communication, University of Benin. The instrument of data collection used was the questionnaire, which was administered online with a sample size of 99 respondents representing the full-time students of the department of Mass Communication. The data collected were presented in tables and analysed using simple percentages. The findings from this study revealed that most students are not very active on Twitter and are indifferent to the student loan policy. Furthermore, the criteria for assessing the student loan scheme is considered stringent and somewhat inaccessible for those it was intended for. The study recommended that the government should leverage more on the use of social media platforms to encourage public discourses and acceptance of government policies. The public should also get adequate information on the loan while the government works to see that it is more accessible.