Journal of Development Communication And Applied Theatre

This paper advocates the role of peace education in mitigating youth restiveness. The paper orchestrates the role of social media as purveyor of intended change messages targeted at the youths in the South-South region of Nigeria. Using gratification theory, this study adopted a quantitative approach aimed at ascertaining the significant influence of peace education via social media on change initiatives for attainment of youth peaceful existence. The survey research method, multi-stage and purpose sampling were used to sample the opinion of 384 respondents based on Krejcie and Morgan table for sample size determination. The study objective was to determine the cause of youth restiveness. The result indicated that the majority of the respondents 160 (62.1%) said that unemployment is the major reason for youth's restiveness, which manifests in violent protest, kidnapping and arson. The findings also revealed ways which peace education can be achieved via social media as the majority- of the respondents agreed that methods such as uploading violent videos, sharing photos of victims of violence, protest and advocacy for promotion of peaceful coexistence in the . The study recommended that there is need for constant engagement on peace advocacy dialogue between government and the youths. It further recommends that there should be constant sharing of information on the need for peace via social media platforms as a means of curbing youth restiveness in the affected region

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