RADIO AS AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIAN RURAL AREAS
This project is an attempt to find out the role of radio as an effective tool for social development in rural areas in Nigerian. The radio has been considered by many “authors experts and policy makers alike as an agent of rural development especially at the information dissemination level. This project tries to find out how successful the social development program for rural dwellers was able to educate, mobilize and organize the rural people in a more productive activity, using radio as a vehicle for creating awareness about its programmes and activities.
The present and the past federal Government of Nigeria emphasizes on the creation of avenue for the development of rural areas. Therefore, this work tries to find out too how social development programmes were able to get to the rural communities effectively and efficiently through radio.
TABLE OF CONTENT
wheel on which all human activities revolve. Without it, society will remain static or stagnant. Communication is said to be the transferring of information, ideas and attitudes from one person to another. This definition presupposes that both the sender and receiver of such information operate at the same wavelength in terms of understanding the same language or symbols. Communication is made up of tour, intrapersonal communication, interpersonal communication group communication and mass communication.
However, this project is centre on mass communication which is the process of transmitting information, ideas and attitudes to many people, usually through a machine. This kind of communication has as its channels – radio, television newspapers, magazines, books etc. The information carried by these channels can be received by different people in different places at the same time.
This project is a study on Radio as an effective tool for social development in Nigerian rural areas. In tracing the history of electronic media in Nigeria, radio was introduced in 1933 as the first medium by the then post and telegraphic department of Britain. In December 1935, wired broadcasting was commissioned in Lagos known as Radio Distribution Services (RDS). By the end of 1949, stations were created in many parts of the country. In 1952, Nigeria Radio Broadcasting Service (NBS) was commissioned by Sir John Stuart Macpherson. In order to enjoy Radio services by the people, the country was divided into three regions and each of them did promote the culture and customs of the people in the area. This served to promote the role or impact of radio in effective communication.
Radio is one of the electronic media used for creating awareness and mobilizing people to support government’s programme and policies, thereby contributing a quota in rural area development. Rural development as a socio-economic phenomenon, is not as new as the current emphasis it appears to portray, it is as old as the rural communities itself. The rate of rural development has been so slow that it has been unnoticed or neglected for many decades of studies in rural development have shown that Radio has been looked upon as the sole agent for change and development in the rural areas. Therefore Radio has played a positive role in the rural area development situations.
Radio serves as a social control measure to the society especially in the rural areas in Nigeria. It creates awareness as well as enlightens those in the rural areas on governments programmes and projects. The Radio is a source of valuable information to all members of the society and of course to those inhabiting the rural areas.
The electronic media especially the radio are a source of valuable information on the development efforts of the government to the people in the rural setting. Radio is a means of socialization to all and it is particularly beneficial to those in the grassroots level who may solely depend on it.
It is a source of marketing channels and employment creation viable because advertisement of vacancies are sometimes relayed via the radio for which those in the rural areas to often times benefit from.
It is a dependable avenue for political campaigns through which those in the rural areas get to know what is being planned or done in terms of politics. It is a training and educative source to the people in the rural areas. It is also a good source of music and entertainment to them. Radio broadcasting is one of the most effective means of getting messages across to a large number of people. It is defined as “an apparatus used for transmitting and receiving messages.” It is then of importance to examine the significant impact of Radio broadcasting to the development of rural areas.
A lot of people are surprised as to the effectiveness of radio in getting messages across to the people so easily and the positive impact it has on the lives of individuals both in the rural areas and in the cities. Other people believe that radio, like other mass media, presents an unreal picture of the events. They argue that radio understates or exaggerates issues out of proportion. Radio has performed mayic in message transmission that some individuals and families are so addicted to the radio that they hardly work a step without their radio.
Many people in the rural areas in Nigeria can not afford television as a result of financial constraint, especially as regards prevailing economic circumstances in Nigeria. Radio has been the most efficient and effective electronic medium for the dissemination of information and social development in Nigerian rural areas. This is also because of the rural areas in Nigeria do not have infrastructures like electricity which is the only power used in operating television. Another aspect of the radio that is worth mentioning here is it’s ability to break language barrier. This is due to the fact that it utilizes also the vernacular and pidgin English in broadcasting.
In spite of the worrisome generalization that “mass media can do nor more than creating awareness regarding any development project, radio has continued to wax stninger as a medium of the people. Radio is regarded as a medium of the people because it has become a common sight in both urban and rural communities in Nigeria. In the rural areas in particular, it is not unusual to see people tie a radio set around their waist while climbing trees or tilling the ground. With the exception of radio which has been found to be effective in reaching the rural Nigerian masses other channels of mass media communication have been found to be relatively less effective. All the mass media generally available to Nigerians, radio is the most widespread and accessible.
This project will help to determine how effective Radio has been in creating awareness educating and stimulating the people towards embracing government policies thereby aiding in the social development of rural areas in Nigeria. We shall equally determine how Radio in it’s educational and enlightenment programmes have helped a large number of rural dwellers and with what meaningful results.
Over two billion people live in rural areas in Nigeria. Most
agricultural communities live in rural areas. In these rural areas one finds that there is a direct relationship between agricultural and rural development. This comes about by the fact that most people in rural areas depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Because such a large population lives in rural areas, they are often the birthplace of trends and events, which will have a major impact on cities later on. For example food is grown there to feed the whole nation and droughts, diseases and infestations to crops are first felt there. Even research meant for better farming practices is tested there. Therefore there is need to keep the communities informed of what is happening in and around them in order for them to adapt to varying situations.
In this breath, radio has forever time stood out as a major dialogue initiator, temperament respondent and untiring arbitrator. The link therefore between radio, the rural community, agriculture and development cannot be over emphasized. The nature of life in most rural communities need basic life necessities like food, shelter, clothing, all mainly got from agriculture. It is therefore important that the agricultural sector is developed, in order to develop the rural areas. The pivotal role of rural broadcasting therefore becomes handy.
However, rural Radio signifies a two way process, which entails the exchange of views from various sources and the adaptation of media for use by the communities. It allows members of a community to gain access to information, education and entertainment and offers an opportunity for the community to participate actively in the media as planners, producers and performers. It is the means of expression of the community rather than for the community. It is different from urban radio in that it is directed specifically to rural people and to their information needs.
Community participation is a fundamental characteristic of rural radio live public shows, villages debates and participation in the actual management of the radio station are just a few examples. This approach empowers rural people to participate in the dialogue and decision – making processes essential for them to control their own economic, social and cultural environment and play an active part in development activities.
RURAL DEVELOPMENT
According to Lele Uma, “Rural development is clearly designed to increase production and raise productivity. Rural development recognizes, however that improved food supplies and nutrition together with basic services such as health and education cannot only directly improve the physical wellbeing and quality of life of the rural poor, but also directly enhance their productivity and their ability to contribute to the national economy”.
Meanwhile, Nyerere Julius K. says, “Rural development is participation of people in a mutual learning experience involving themselves, their local resources, external change agents and outside resources. People cannot be developed, they can only develop themselves by participation in decisions and cooperative activities which affect their well – being. People are not being developed when they are herded like animals into means ventures.
It is evident that development implies change, and the first change that takes place is the attitude of the people who will be directly affected by the development in this case; the farmers and rural communities. In order to achieve this goal, there must be a fundamental change in the way farmers approach agriculture and the rate at which they adapt new technologies, husbandry and farming practices. In order to achieve this change farmers and rural communities need to be informed on the importance of adapting these new practices.
The objective of this research is highlighted as follows:
This research topic is very timely and of great importance
because the main them in national development is to mobilize our diverse human and material resources in order to transform our physical environment for the good of our people and one significant way to achieve this is through rural development.
In the third and fourth national development plans, (1875-80)
and (1981-85) respectively, efforts were made to develop the rural areas and ensure job opportunities that will help to reduce mass rural/urban migration, providing infrastructural facilities, social amenities that could make life bearable for the dwellers.
All these efforts of the government were mostly communicated to the rural dwellers through the radio this means that radio played a significant role in educating and providing adequate information to the rural dwellers.
This research will now help to assess to what extent radio was able to make significant impact in the life of the people and with what results.
This research will focus mainly on the significant impact of
radio broadcasting as an instrument used towards stimulating social development in the rural areas in Nigeria.
The research is constrained by limited time available for the project and low financial support to execute the project extensively.
Another constraint encountered was the fact that not all respondence returned their questionnaires because the villagers in the sample of study were mostly illiterates and it depended mostly on face to face and oral interview.
Despite all these limitations, I have ensured that this work has been done and presented with utmost objectivity and accuracy.
A hypothesis is a conjectural statement of relationship between
two or more variables. Hypothesis is always in declarative form and they relate either generally or specifically to variable and are tested.
Based on these, the research hypothesis on this study is highlighted below, as follows:
Hi: Radio broadcasting is an effective tool for social development in rural areas.
Ho: Radio broadcasting is not an effective tool for social development in rural areas.
Hii: Rural dwellers cannot be stimulated to be conscious of social development in their areas through the use of radio transmission.
Hii: Rural dwellers can be stimulated to be conscious of social development in their areas through the use of radio transmission
Hiii: Radio programmes in rural areas brought about significant positive impact on the rural dwellers thereby making life easier for them.
Hooo: Radio programmes in rural areas do not make any significant positive impact on the rural dwellers, therefore, it did not change for the better of their lives.
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