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Rural dev’t and the mass media
ISAAC ASABOR
MERE
mentioning of the words, "rural dwellers," often evokes the picture of
illiterates and uncivilised farmers in the minds of those not acquainted with
rural areas. Many urban dwellers see and regard rural dwellers as "second class"
citizens. They are seen as those that have no right to sound education, decent
housing, potable water and motorable roads. Paradoxically, it is these rural
dwellers that provide almost all we eat to stay alive in the urban areas. It
seems they are literally the proverbial house-boys that pound yam, but do not
have a share of the meal.
That the plight of the rural dweller has
long been crying for attention cannot be an exaggeration. Little wonder then
that in his determination to alleviate the sufferings of the rural dwellers, the
then military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida created the
Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFFRI). But unfortunately,
that noble dream for the rural dwellers was killed by his successors. The
problem we are permanently faced with is that of sustaining programmes that
would benefit the rural dwellers. The vogue is for any nascent government to
have the name of one policy or the other credited to it. It is for this reason
that we have had several well-intended development programmes that are today
thrown to the dust-bin of our political history.
In furtherance of rural development, some
organisations — both governmental and non-governmental — such as World Bank, ADB,
UNDP and their likes, made the rural areas a focal point in implementing their
development projects. These trite facts are not far-fetched on the pages of our
newspapers, television and radio. But the problem is that the projects that
often attract media mention are hardly seen in our rural areas. Perhaps, they
are not equitably distributed across the nation. The truth is that the rural
areas cannot be developed through occasional distribution of drugs, foods,
condoms and what have you in a Father-Christmas like manner. What the rural
dwellers need is sustainable development. What the rural dwellers need are the
projects which their children’s will grow up to benefit from.
Besides, one may not be objective and fair
to those in government by saying that the present three tiers of government are
not putting the well-being of the rural dwellers into consideration in yearly
budgets and through other organs. It is not in doubt that most local government
chairmen and governors are wont to blow their trumpets through the media. But
the truth is that what they always claim to have done in their various areas of
jurisdictions are hardly seen to be existing. They are fond of making spurious
claims to what and what they have done during the first 100 days in office and
annual anniversaries. Most of our leaders in their art of deceptiveness usually
show, for instance a building, from various angles on print or in camera.
Given these ghost projects which our
governors and chairmen often use in deceiving us, one can say that those in
power have not been fair to the rural dwellers. The rural dwellers have not been
equitably considered alongside their urban counterparts. At this computer age,
rural electrification is still lacking in many villages and towns. Many rural
feeder roads have taken over by potholes and gullies. This, arguably has
literally cut off the rural dwellers from the urban areas.
As if these are not enough, rural water
supply projects are nothing but white elephant projects. Most villages that once
benefited from the provisions of boreholes and pipe-borne water, now fetch water
for drinking and domestic activities from polluted and guinea-worm infested
streams and ponds.
Moreover, there are no industries to
absorb many school leavers and university graduates who have now turned to
Okada operators. This, no doubt, has been the worst factor contributing to
rural-urban migration. Viewing the plight of rural dwellers from another
perspective, one can see that the impact of mass communication is yet to be felt
sufficiently. This writer experienced a nasty situation when he paid a transport
fare of about N300 per day just to buy a newspaper that cost N100 while on his
recent annual leave in his village.
Again, it is not true, as some media gurus
would make us to believe, that rural dwellers listen to news, music and drama on
transistor radios. The majority of them see it as a status symbol, more than a
vehicle of education, information, entertainment, social mobilisation and
cultural awareness. Even when the use of radio is known to some educated few,
they can hardly afford dry-cell batteries. The only rural dwellers that make use
of radios to an appreciable level are the northerners. This could be as a result
of the preferential treatment their dialect enjoy on British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC) transmission. Added to these dysfunctional aspect of the media
in the rural areas is that rural dwellers socialise, after the strenuous farm
work, mostly through meetings, age-group activities and grassroots politics.
But the happenings and events in the rural
towns and villages are not well covered by the print media, when one
meticulously flips through some newspapers. Most of the news today are
urban-originated news. It is only when there is communal clash in any of the
villages or towns that reporters or correspondents posted by the media house to
various local government headquarters, deem it fit to bring happenings and
events in rural areas into limelight.
The question now is, how can the media be
said to be playing their role of informing, entertaining, socialising, educating
and mobilising the rural public together with the urban public?
Considering the foregoing, one can now
understand why the villages cannot be adequately carried along under the present
economic and political dispensations. Majority of the senior school certificate
holders, even teachers and others in white-collar jobs in the villages and
towns, are hardly acquainted with the political, social and economic trends in
the country. Such is the plight of the rural dwellers that one cannot conclude
this write-up without proffering solutions.
The media should improve on its coverage
of happenings and events in the rural parts of the country. There is no denying
the fact that there are town associations that are playing vital roles in the
development of their respective towns and villages. If the activities of these
associations are adequately and frequently covered, many people may be
encouraged to contribute financially or morally, to the development of their
villages. Though the media may not be successful without the assistance of
private telephone operators (PTOs) like MTN, V-mobile, Globacom, M-Tel and
others by installing their base stations in our villages.
Secondly, the media should start reporting
news, writing features, editorial and pictorial presentations on happenings,
events and developments in rural areas. We should begin to thank God that many
royal fathers are highly or moderately educated, unlike their predecessors. The
media can successfully play their role through these royal fathers.
Finally, the broadcast media should strive
to start separate and special radio programmes meant to the rural audience by
using relevant dialects as means of communication. This, no doubt, will
encourage many rural dwellers to start acquiring transistor radios and cultivate
the habit of listening to news. The radio cannot be neglected as a mass
communication organ of reaching the rural populace by virtue of its strength to
penetrate remote areas. We should begin to emulate Ghana which began rural
broadcasting in October 1962. From that year, broadcast to the rural people
assumed a new technique. Programmes fashioned out to educate, inform and
entertain the rural people were delivered in the Ghanaian languages.
•Asabor lives in Lagos
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