This study examined residents' media exposure and perception of environmental sanitation campaigns addressing indiscriminate gutter-waste disposal in Ika South Local Government Area, Delta State, Nigeria, amid government interventions such as the Monthly Environmental Sanitation Exercise and Operation Keep Delta Clean. Anchored in Media Dependency Theory and Social Judgment Theory, the study adopted a survey design. A sample of 400 residents, drawn from six communities across the Agbor and Abavo clans using the Taro Yamane formula, yielded 378 valid responses (94.5% return rate). Findings showed that residents' exposure to campaign messages was moderate (M = 3.21, SD = 0.80), whereas their perception of the campaigns was strongly favourable (M = 4.23, SD = 0.57). Television emerged as the most effective channel for reaching residents (M = 3.46), followed by radio, print media, and social media. Perception was more strongly associated with self-reported behavioural compliance (r = .320, p < .001) than exposure (r = .195, p < .001), and together the two variables explained 11.8% of the variance in disposal behaviour (R² = .118, F(2, 375) = 25.05, p < .001). Taken together, these results indicate that although residents' exposure to sanitation messaging remains moderate, their perception of such campaigns is highly positive, television offers the greatest reach, and perception, rather than exposure, drives behavioural compliance. The study recommends strengthening message credibility, expanding television- and community-based campaigns, and instituting periodic message evaluation by the Delta State Waste Management Board.

Audience dependency Behavioural compliance Communication channels Message credibility Social Judgment Theory Urban flooding

PDF includes proper metadata for Google Scholar indexing

• Journal: DELSU Journal of Communication and Media Studies
• ISSN: XXXX-XXXX
• Publisher: Delta State University Abraka
• Country: Nigeria
• Language: English
• Access: Open Access

Delsu Journal of Communication and Media Studies

Volume 1, Issue 1

2026

View Complete Issue

This article is optimized for Google Scholar with:

• Complete citation metadata
• PDF availability with metadata
• DOI integration
• Structured abstract
• Separate author tags
• Proper publication dates