Effect of Mass Media in Rural Development; Case Study of Ekiti State, Ikere Local Government
Chapter One
The Objective Or Purpose Of The Study
it is acknowledged more than ever that adequate information dissemination is the basis of an informed and rational citizen.
The objective or purpose of this study includes
- To find out how mass media communication could help in improving the lines of the rural dwellers in the context of development influencing and changing their lives attitudes and conditions.
- This research will also study how rural dwellers receive and utilize the information available to them.
- Finally, this project is aimed at finding solutions and recommending same so that it will help to impact mass communication in the context of rural development, especially the Ikere local government area
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Role of Communication in Rural Development
In his Perspectives on development communication, Moemeka (1993, p. 15-30) reviewed the contribution of Lerner (1958), Klapper (1960), Schramm (1964), Almon and Verba (1963), Pye (1963), Deutsch (1964) and others to the role of communication in development. He listed twelve roles which the mass media can play in the task of national development as recorded in Schramm’s (1964) treatise. They are: widening of horizons; focusing attention; raising aspiration; creating climate for development; changing strongly held values; feeding interpersonal channels; conferring status; broadening policy dialogue; enforcing social norms; helping to form tastes; affecting lightly held attitudes and analyzing stronger attitudes; and helping substantially in all kinds of education. Moemeka believes that studies which express strong faith in the power of communication in development cannot be described as different from the “discredited bullet (hypodermic needle) theory which saw mass communication as all powerful at all times in its effects on the individual and the society” (p. 16). According to Moemeka, discussions on what communication can do with reference to literacy, aspiration, empathy; attitudes and so on did not take into account the “cultural and socioeconomic realities of the recipient audiences”(p. 16). According to him, the flawed concept of old paradigm, as recorded by Golding (1974, p. 133), sees developing countries as emerging from static isolation and requiring an external stimulus to shake them into development. He called this paradigm “unilinear” and “transportational” (p. 16) because it assumed that informing the elite, well-to-do, articulate and educated was all that was needed for communication to be effective. This method relied on the feeling that information will trickle-down to the masses once these privileged people get it. This expectation never came to pass due to the neglect of the socio-cultural environment in which the mass media operated and the total absence of audience-oriented feedback. Examining development in the 1960s, Moemeka submitted that it was predicated on industrialization and increased gross national product. By the 1970s, a vast majority of the people who were supposed to benefit from the paradigm were in fact worse off.
According to him: The green revolution in agriculture or the various health and family welfare programmes seemed to be producing adverse results. Industrialization was causing large scale migration from the rural areas; technology was fostering greater dependency rather than self-reliance; and western values and behaviour were threatening indigenous cultures and social institutions. A simplistic approach to communication in support of development, which was a natural counterpart of the simplistic model of imitative economic development that held sway in the 1960s had failed. (p. 16)
An alternative to the failed paradigm was a framework which saw development in terms of a country’s own needs and the unique circumstances of climate, history, and socio-cultural conditions. The much-emphasized concept of economic growth and the quantitative approach began to get less attention. So did UNESCO’s quantitative approach contained in its celebrated mass media norms for developing countries i.e. 10 daily newspapers copies; five radio sets and two cinema seats per 100 people. This prescription paid no attention to media content and equality in access to the mass media. With the decline of these views, a lively re-thinking began and found a useful vent in Sean MacBride’s International Commission on Problems of Communication (UNESCO, 1980). The result of this re-thinking was a clear sensitivity to the structural and cultural constraints on the impacts of communication. Moemeka records that the turning point in the study of development communication was the 1975 Honolulu Conference. It was in that conference that Daniel Lerner and Wilbur Schramm admitted that the trickle down model of communication in development had been proved ineffective. Rogers went further, a year later, to propose a new model for development based on equality and incorporating social justice and economic growth. The causes of underdevelopment in this model were attributed to both external and internal factors. The model stresses access to the media of communication and participation in communication activities. Additionally, it sees development not only in physical terms but also in sociocultural terms. Because communication was assigned a culturally relevant role by the new paradigm, development communication itself required re-definition. This task was taken up in 1973, Moemeka reports, by the International Broadcast Institute meeting in Cologne on communication in support of development. This body re-defined development and communication. Development was defined as “the improvement of the wellbeing of the individual and the betterment of the quality of his/her life” (p. 17). Communication, on the other hand, stood for the “transfer of information between individuals by human or technical means” (p. 17).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we described the research procedure for this study. A research methodology is a research process adopted or employed to systematically and scientifically present the results of a study to the research audience viz. a vis, the study beneficiaries.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled. According to Singleton & Straits, (2009), Survey research can use quantitative research strategies (e.g., using questionnaires with numerically rated items), qualitative research strategies (e.g., using open-ended questions), or both strategies (i.e., mixed methods). As it is often used to describe and explore human behaviour, surveys are therefore frequently used in social and psychological research.
POPULATION OF THE STUDY
According to Udoyen (2019), a study population is a group of elements or individuals as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitute of individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description.
This study was carried out to examine the mass communication as a catalyst to rural development. Ikere local government area of Ekiti state form the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
This chapter presents the analysis of data derived through the questionnaire and key informant interview administered on the respondents in the study area. The analysis and interpretation were derived from the findings of the study. The data analysis depicts the simple frequency and percentage of the respondents as well as interpretation of the information gathered. A total of hundred and twenty (120) questionnaires were administered to respondents of which 100 were returned. The analysis of this study is based on the number returned.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
Introduction
This chapter summarizes the findings on the mass communication as a catalyst to rural development (a case study of Ikere local government area of Ekiti state. The chapter consists of summary of the study, conclusions, and recommendations.
Summary of the Study
In this study, our focus was on the effect of mass media in rural development (a case study of Ikere local government area of Ekiti state. The study is was specifically focused on finding out how mass media communication could help in improving the lines of the rural dwellers in the context of development influencing and changing their lives attitudes and condition. this research will also study how the rural dwellers to receive and utilize the information available to them and Finally this project is aimed at finding solutions and recommending same so that it will help to impact of mass communication in the context of rural development especially the Ikere local government area.
The study adopted the survey research design and randomly enrolled participants in the study. A total of 100 responses were validated from the enrolled participants where all respondent are staff of Ikere local government area of Ekiti state.
Conclusions
With respect to the analysis and the findings of this study, the following conclusions emerged;
From the foregoing analysis it is obvious that rural or community development in Nigeria has not received its fair share in the scheme of things. The institutions and agencies charged with the responsibility for rural development and the policies and strategies adopted to meet these objectives have not lived up to expectation of the rural dwellers in particular and the nation in general. It has been shown that in spite of the numerous natural resources that Nigeria is endowed with, majority of the citizens, particularly in the rural areas live below ‘absolute poverty line’. Therefore there exists mass poverty as a result of the lopsided and urban-based development process which the governments in Nigeria have pursued till date. For instance the various World Bank, IMF and other multinational corporations-sponsored large-scale agricultural projects were not intended to better the lot of the rural dwellers. These projects and schemes are based on obsolete trickle-down theory by which the main beneficiaries are supposed to diffuse information and motivate the small peasant farmers, who would then follow their example. It would be difficult for Nigeria to attack its poverty unless it stops discriminating against peasant farmers and rural population. The above situations revolve on the neo-colonial and dependent nature of Nigerian economy and society. This appears to be the crux of Nigeria’s development and other problems, including that of political instability currently ravaging the country. The point should be made that as long as we operate this economic system, development in the real sense of the term, will remain a mirage. Mass poverty and deprivation currently facing the rural people will worsen and our independence will remain a sham. Indeed the contemporary Nigerian state can be described as a comprador state – a state in which its institutions and officials operate as agents of capitalism and imperialism under this social system, Nigerian development programmes, particularly the so-called new strategies for ‘rural development’ are only smokescreens intended to cover the real thing, which is the continued domination and exploitation by western or foreign investors.
Arising from all the above, this paper offers a number of recommendations as a way of solving the lingering problems of rural underdevelopment in Nigeria. These include the following:
- Since over 70% of Nigerian population live in the rural areas and produce the greatest wealth of the nation, the rural areas should be accorded more recognition in terms of budgetary provisions and provision of social and economic amenities.
- The production needs of rival dwellers centre around poor infrastructural facilities, inadequate extension services, and lack of financial credit. Therefore feeder roads are urgently needed to effectively link and integrate peasants scattered all over the country with the urban centres to enable them to evacuate their products from the farms. They also need adequate water supply for drinking and irrigation, especially in the arid parts of the country.
- Government should provide the inability environment to foster rural and community development in Nigeria. Facilities such as education, health services, electricity supply, improving literacy, health and general quality of life are acutely inadequate in the rural areas. 4. There is also need to adequately train the farmers in the use of new techniques of farming and for them to be provided with farming equipments like tractors, fertilizers and pest control chemicals at subsidized prices that those peasants can afford. In this regard, the current practice of absentee farmers living in the urban areas trading in fertilizers meant for real farmers should be stopped. Government should endeavour to deal directly with the real farmers in the rural areas if rural development is to be achieved.
- The so-called “agricultural credit guarantee scheme’ under which commercial banks are encouraged to give peasant farmers loans guaranteed by the federal government through the Central Bank need to be reviewed. This is because the processes involved, including feasibility studies- required to secure those loans are beyond the capability of peasant farmers. The fact of the matter is that agricultural credit facilities in Nigeria have been designed for the big capitalist farmers. This policy should be reviewed to favour the peasant farmers who live in the rural areas.
- The rampant and endemic corruption, greed and mismanagement associated with institutions for rural development should be ripped in the bud. This requires the intensification of the crusade against these vices by the government and her agencies like EFCC, ICPC, among others. This requires the change of attitude by the political leaders to deal with the situation squarely. Therefore, the Nigerian state should make deliberate efforts to create a virile and credible institutions and structures that would enhance rural development.
- Further more, it is advocated that Nigeria should try to break away from the neo-colonial and dependent nature of the economic and social system. As long as we operate these social and economic systems of dependence, development in the real sense of the term will remain a mirage. In the long run what we would witness will be continued exploitation and domination by western or foreign investors.
- Rural development in Nigeria should not be the concern of only Federal, State and local governments. It is important that individuals, communities, corporate organizations, nongovernmental organizations and international organizations and agencies must be deeply involved in the efforts at eradicating poverty, enhancing rural development and the overall national development of the country. In the final analysis, there is the need for change of attitudes on the part of the citizenry, particularly public office holders to embrace the virtues of hard work, commitment, integrity transparency and accountability in the conduct of government business. It is then, and only then that rural development in Nigeria will become reality.
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