Strategic Communication and Policy Legitimation in Nigerian State Governments

This study empirically investigates how state governments in Nigeria deploy strategic communication to legitimise public policies, with comparative case evidence from Anambra (South East), Plateau (North Central), and Sokoto (North West) States. Policy legitimation is a critical but underexplored dimension of public administration in developing country contexts, where citizen consent cannot be assumed and policy failure often has communication rather than purely design roots. A comparative case study design is employed, drawing on 45 semi-structured interviews with government information officers, media practitioners, policy stakeholders, and citizens, supplemented by content analysis of 120 official policy communication documents and media broadcasts from 2021 to 2023. Legitimacy Theory in organisational communication and Habermas's Communicative Action Theory jointly provide the theoretical framework. Findings reveal that governments employing dialogue-based, evidence-anchored, and culturally resonant communication strategies achieved significantly higher public acceptance scores for contested policies, including tax increases and land acquisition for infrastructure. Propaganda-heavy or exclusionary communication strategies generated scepticism and resistance even where policies were technically sound. Social media is identified as a double-edged tool: facilitating rapid policy dissemination but equally amplifying opposition and misinformation. The study recommends a structured policy communication competency framework for state government information departments and the integration of participatory communication planning into policy design processes. Keywords: strategic communication, policy legitimation, Nigerian state governments, public administration, communicative action.