Mass Media: Veritable Tool in Curbing Corruption for Sustainable Peace and Development in Nigeria?

This paper focuses on the role of the mass media in curbing corruption to aid sustainable peace and development in Nigeria. Transparency International, an independent global watch on corruption ranks Nigeria among the five most corrupt nations in the world, an inglorious record that has stunted growth, peace and development in all areas in Nigeria. These are impediments to national development, especially, in the vision for Nigeria becoming one of the 20 most developed economics in the world by the year 2020. This paper employed agenda –setting theory and observational learning and imitation behavior theory, and concluded that the fight against corruption must be one of the topmost priorities of the government at all levels in Nigeria. The media should be encouraged to develop and enforce adequate standards of conduct regarding their professional competence and their objectivity so that they would avoid any temptations of accepting gifts, envelopes, fare or any other support that would interfere with their free reporting. And it recommended that since, there are enough rules to prevent corruption, the application of such rules should be applied in a blanket form, and not randomly, this will instill fear into all the stakeholders. And the Organizations engaged in the fight against corruption can use media as allies and as vehicle for their work to improve their chances of success, their effectiveness and their sustainability