: La suppression des subventions sur le carburant au Nigeria en 2023 a engendré un vif mécontentement social. Les masses ont utilisé la couverture médiatique pour exprimer leurs douleurs, générant un nombre important de caricatures et de pancartes comportant de l'anglais nigérian, du sarcasme et de l'ironie qui sont difficiles à déchiffrer. Cette recherche vise à examiner les modes de communication verbale et non-verbale employés dans certaines caricatures et pancartes sélectionnées, associées à la corruption en général et à la suppression des subventions sur le carburant en particulier. Ancrée dans la socio-sémiotique de Van Leeuwen et Kress (2006) comme cadre théorique, cette étude cherche à révéler comment divers modes de communication non-verbale tels que les images, la mise en page, les couleurs, les expressions faciales et les arrangements spatiaux, fonctionnent de concert avec les modes verbaux pour apporter une révélation plus profonde de la source et du niveau de mécontentement social résultant de l'augmentation du prix du carburant à la pompe. L'étude réalise une analyse multimodale d'un total de cinq (5) caricatures et de trois (3) pancartes sélectionnées de manière ciblée, publiées entre juin 2023 et mai 2024. L'analyse révèle comment les ressources sémiotiques contenues dans le message visuel sont des tactiques sociopolitiques utilisées par les masses pour résister aux idéologies de la classe dominante. L'étude montre également comment les représentations visuelles et textuelles contribuent, dans le contexte nigérian, à transmettre des messages de résistance sociale. L'étude conclut que la production de sens (le meaning-making) dans une analyse socio-sémiotique n'est pas un processus neutre, mais est enchâssée dans des pratiques sociales, des relations de pouvoir et des perspectives idéologiques.
New fuel pump prices and expression of social discontent in nigeria: a socio-semiotic deconstruction of selected cartoons and placards
Auteur(s)
AD
Adelaide Keudem DONGMO
Département des Lettres Modernes, Faculté des Lettres, Arts et Sciences Humaines, University of Ilorin - Nigéria
Résumé
Abstract
The 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.
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.
Mots-clés
Pour citer cet article
DONGMO Adelaide Keudem (2025). "New fuel pump prices and expression of social discontent in nigeria: a socio-semiotic deconstruction of selected cartoons and placards". AFLASH, Vol(12)3, pp. 725-743.