The Works and Lifestyles of Nigerian Celebrities as Drivers of Crimes amongst the Youth and Young People

Abstract

This paper is a discourse on how the works and lifestyles of Nigerian celebrities act as drivers of crimes amongst the country’s youth and young people. It shows the trends of crime in the country before and in the era of the new media, bringing to the fore emerging dimensions that are rarely reported explicitly in extant literature. Data for the study were obtained through secondary sources and analyzed through content analysis based on Bibb Latané’s (1981) social impact theory. The findings suggest that: (i) while leadership examples and weak institutions are at the roots of crimes in the country, (ii) the messages (directly and impliedly) communicated in the works of celebrities and their lifestyles act as the drivers amongst the youth and young people, (iii) the failure of relevant institutions to regulate the lifestyles of celebrities and their works promotes the tendency to get rich quick and by all means amongst the youth and young people. It recommends the regulation of the works and lifestyles of Nigerian celebrities by relevant institutions.