Media contributions to ‘sex for grades’ discourse: A study of the movie Citation and the tertiary education sector in Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

The Nigerian media has been lending a voice to all stakeholders in the society through its watchdog function and has stood the objective ground of tackling vices affecting the state of the public while endorsing those that uplift the nation. Nigerian legacy media coupled with the film industry have consistently mirrored the realities of the variations to the subject of ‘sex for grades’ in female student- male lecturer relationship. Through discourse and statistical analyses methods, the movie Citation, was examined as a medium contributing to curtailing the menace of ‘sex for grades’ in Nigerian tertiary institutions. The theoretical framework was social power relations theory and data was gathered through a focus group discussion and questionnaire to survey the implications of this film in a tertiary institution in Osun state. Findings reveal that just like the legacy media, the film industry is equally imparting an extra voice to expatiate on what ‘sex for grades’ is, how it comes to play, variances to its exhibit, as well as steps to take to avoid it. Approving the film Citation, the conclusion draws that the medium of film can be further explored in combating the problem of ‘sex for grades’ in the Nigerian education sector.