An Appraisal of Development Communication as a Tool for National Development
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
Based on the identified research problems stated below, the following are the objective of the study. They include:
- To determine whether development communication is a tool for ensuring sustainable national development in Nigeria.
- To determine whether government uses its programme and policies to take development to the masses in Nigeria.
- To determine whether illiteracy is a problem in the achievement of all sorts of national development in Nigeria
- To find out whether mass media in Nigeria have done enough to ensuring sustainable national development.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Development
Even at the time when the world was still basing all hopes of development on industrialization and economic growth, Inayatullah (1967) drew attention to what development meant in reality to developing countries. He identified the different aspects of development and gave it a holistic perspective. He defined development as “change toward patterns of society that allow better realization of human values, that allow a society greater control over its environments, and over its own political destiny, and that enables its individuals to gain increased control over themselves”(p. 101). In support of Inayatullah, and to show that his views about development had changed in line with the new paradigm, Rogers (1975) redefined development as “a widely participatory process of social change in a society, intended to bring about both social and material advancement (including greater majority of the people through their gaining greater control over their environment”(p. 345). These definitions show clearly that development is a multi-faceted concept. This is why it generally means different things to different people and different disciplines. In discussing development, most psychologists, for example, are preoccupied with such individual or personality variables as self-reliance, achievement motivation, self-worth and self-actualization. For the sociologist, the concept of development revolves around the process of differentiation that characterizes modem societies. The political scientist is concerned with developing a capacity to induce change, increase political awareness and improve the ability to resolve conflict political situations. The communication specialist tends to see development as the acquisition of new knowledge and skills, increased self-confidence, control over oneself and one’s environment, greater equality, freedom, ability to understand one’s potentials and limitations, and willingness to work hard enough to improve on existing conditions. These different angles from which development is viewed are not exclusive but rather interwoven. Together they stress the fact that development is a normative concept in that it assumes that existing conditions are no longer conducive to human dignity and socio-economic advancement and, therefore, should be changed for the better.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to an appraisal of development communication as a tool for national development
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
Primary source and Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain an appraisal of development communication as a tool for national development
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of development communication as a tool for national development
Summary
This study was on an appraisal of development communication as a tool for national development. Three objectives were raised which included: To determine whether development communication is a tool for ensuring sustainable national development in Nigeria, to determine whether government uses its programme and policies to take development to the masses in Nigeria, to determine whether illiteracy is a problem in the achievement of all sorts of national development in Nigeria, to find out whether mass media in Nigeria have done enough to ensuring sustainable national development, to determine whether foreign dominance of work information and communication order (WICO) has hinder Nigerian development, to find out whether media practitioners partners with government in all aspects of national development, to determine whether bribery and corruption have hindered development in Nigeria, to make recommendations for policies formulation and further studies on the topic under study. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 selected residents in Enugu metropolis. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up civil servants, youths, men and women were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Development communication is not merely concerned with providing information on development activities. Besides creating opportunity for the people to know about the technical nature of new ideas and on how they work and with what effect, development communication plays the more important role of creating an atmosphere for understanding how these new ideas fit into the real social situation in which the people operate. Its ultimate goal is to serve as a catalyst for local development activities, planning and implementation, and local communication to smoothen the path to development. If development communication must succeed, then it must include strong components of social organization and interpersonal as well as traditional modes and media. In addition, those in charge of planning development communication must be people who understand the local socio-cultural environment and how change can take place in it- not merely how development messages can be disseminated
Recommendation
As part of process evaluation of interventions, there should be continuous monitoring of specific indicators of change and performance. This permits midcourse adjustment of programme content and targets. In order to eliminate the dependency relationships between the rural areas and development planners, there is need for a bottom-up communication approach that actively involves ruralites in problem identification, message design and in the identification of strategies that are capable of reaching and producing uniform comprehension and acceptance among rural audiences.
REFERENCES
- Abbas, Q. (1988). “Development Communication and Dependency: Theoretical Polemics of Development Communication and its Consequences for the Third World”. A Paper presented at the XVI Conference of the International Association of Mass Communication Research, Barcelona, Spain.
- Anaeto,S & Solo-Anaeto, M.(2010), “ Rural Community Newspaper : Principles & Practices” Ibadan: Stirling-Horden Publisher.
- Akpotor, S & Imoh, G.(2009). “The Millennium Development Goals”: Issues of Gender, Women, Poverty and Development.” Faculty of the Social Sciences, Delta State University, Abraka, Publisher.
- Amin, S. (1976). “Unequal Development: An Essay on the Social Formations of Peripheral Capitalism”. New York. Monthly Review Press.
- Ascroft, J. and Melkote, S. (1981). “An Ethical Perspective on the Generation of Development Communication Research Useful to Policy Makers and Practitioners”. A Paper presented at the International Communication Association Conference, Dallas, Texas. 31
- Awa, N. (1988). “Impediments to Communication for Rural Development”. Development Communication Report. (62).
- Ayedun – Aluma ,V. (2010) “Information Paradigm of Development and Communication Problems in Nigeria” Nigeria Journal of Communication. 8 (1) 118 – 137.
- Balit, S. (1988). “Rethinking Development Support Communication” Development Communication Report. 63, (P.3)
