THE GUARDIAN AND NIGERIA OBSERVER NEWSPAPERS' COVERAGE OF CHILD RIGHTS AND PROTECTION ISSUES IN NIGERIA

This study is a review of selected newspapers’ coverage of child rights and protection issues in Nigeria. The Guardian and The Nigeria Observer were chosen for the study for the period of two months starting from 1st May to 30th June 2025. The research design for this study was content analysis while the target population was publications of the Guardians and The Nigerian Observer from May 1st, 2025, to June 30th, 2025 resulting to a total number of 122 publications. The entire population was considered for the study with coding sheet utilized for data collection. Qualitative method of analysis was employed which includes percentages, frequency and Chi Square for hypothesis testing. From the analysis the findings revealed that; the frequency of newspaper coverage of child abuse has significant impact on child rights and protection in Nigeria and the direction of newspaper coverage of child trafficking has significant impact on child rights and protection in Nigeria. Based on the findings the study recommended among other things that there should be improvement on the part of newspaper reporters and editors to step up the attention given to child abuse and specific pages should be devoted to children matters where issues affecting child trafficking could be featured.