| Abstract: |
This interpretive journalism study examined how the Nigerian social-media mockumentary Visa on Arrival constructs and communicates public perceptions of visa application offices. Anchored on Reception Theory (Hall, 1980) and Framing Theory (Entman, 1993), the research investigated both the encoded meanings within the comedic sketches and audience decoding of these portrayals. Using a qualitative design, narrative and audience reception analyses were applied to 12 systematically sampled episodes, with the top ten audience comments per episode analysed through inductive and deductive coding. Findings showed that (F1) recurrent themes—bureaucratic incompetence, corruption, moral policing, power struggles, and trivialised procedures—collectively depict a consistently dysfunctional visa system; (F2) archetypal characters illustrate that institutional decay is uneven, manifesting through interconnected personal behaviours aligned with real-world documentation; and (F3) audiences overwhelmingly decode the sketches as truthful satire, linking the comedy to lived immigration office encounters. The study concluded that Visa on Arrival functions as a media-mediated architecture of perception, staging immigration offices as spaces of power, performance, and institutional theatrics, thereby transforming routine bureaucratic encounters into public narratives that are feared, ridiculed, and normalised. Policy implications recommended (R.1) collaboration between immigration authorities and journalists to streamline and publicise procedures; (R.2) regular staff training and accountability mechanisms to curb misconduct; and (R.3) active engagement by civil society, media watchdogs, and oversight bodies to reinforce ethical service delivery. This study underscores the critical role of satirical media in shaping public understanding of bureaucratic institutions and civic experience in Nigeria. |
