New Fuel Pump P rice and Expression of social Discontent in Nigeria: A Socio-semiotic deconstruction of selected Cartoons and Placards.
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2025
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La faculté des lettres, arts et sciences humaines, Université de Moundou. Tchad
Abstract
he removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria in 2023 triggered widespread social
discontent, leading citizens to increasingly rely on digital platforms to articulate their
frustrations. Among the most prominent forms of online expression were political cartoons
and protest placards that employed Nigerian English, humour, sarcasm, and visual
symbolism to critique governance. However, the multimodal complexity of these texts often
renders their meanings opaque. This study investigates how verbal and non-verbal semiotic
resources are deployed in selected cartoons and placards to communicate public
grievances about corruption and the fuel subsidy removal. Drawing on Kress and van
Leeuwen’s (2006) socio-semiotic framework, the analysis examines how imagery, colour,
composition, facial expression, spatial arrangement, and linguistic choices interact to
construct layered meanings. Using purposive sampling, five cartoons and three placards
published between June 2023 and May 2024 were subjected to multimodal analysis. The
findings reveal that these visual texts operate as grassroots communicative strategies
through which citizens resist dominant ideological narratives and articulate sociopolitical
critique. The study demonstrates that visual and textual elements function synergistically to
encode messages of dissent, frustration, and political awareness within the Nigerian sociocultural context. It further establishes that meaning-making in socio-semiotic discourse is
inherently ideological, shaped by power relations and collective experiences of hardship.
This research contributes to scholarship on African visual culture and multimodality by
highlighting the central role of digital visual artifacts in contemporary political expression.
It offers insight into how everyday Nigerians use semiotic creativity to negotiate and contest
sociopolitical realities, thereby expanding current understandings of visual resistance in
African public spheres.
Keywords: socio-semiotics, multimodality, fuel subsidy removal, Nigeria, digital activism.
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Dongmo, A. K. (2025) : New Fuel Pump P rice and Expression of social Discontent in Nigeria: A Socio-semiotic deconstruction of selected Cartoons and Placards. ANNALES DE LA FACULTE DES LETTRES, ARTS ET SCIENCES HUMAINES, (AFLASH) Vol. (12) 3,726 - 743 Published by La faculté des lettres, arts et sciences humaines, Université de Moundou. Tchad https://aflash-revue-mdou.org/archives/volume/12/3 https://aflash-revue-mdou.org/article/55/pdf