AKSU Journal of Communication Research (AJCR)

Abstract
At the outbreak of corona virus in Nigeria, the Federal government set up a Presidential Task Force to enlighten the Nigerian public on how to contain the pandemic. In spite of this, there were much “misinformation” that the Nigerian public were subjected to about the pandemic. The study was carried out to assess public perception of government information management and purported misinformation surrounding COVID-19 in Nigeria. Four research questions were raised to guide the study. The study used survey as the design and the questionnaire as the instrument. With a sample size of 300 across six cities, each representing each of the six geopolitical zones of the federation, findings showed that the audience were not adequately informed on what the Task Force claimed as misinformation of the public by non-experts and non-state actors. Also findings showed that respondents’ perceived that the Federal Government handled information on the purported “Chinese doctors” haphazardly and was full of blame trading among agencies of the Federal Government that were supposedly responsible for bringing in the supposed Chinese doctors who turned out be technicians of a Chinese company in the country. The study therefore recommended among others, that government should make use of development communication experts in events of this kind, to reach out to the people. Similarly, the use of folk media of communication and indigenous languages is recommended, especially to reach out to the fairly literate and illiterate populations in urban and rural areas.