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WEEK 10

TOPIC: Communication cont’d

CONTENT:

  • Nigerian traditional means of communication e.g. gong, drum etc
  • Development of Postal, Telegraphic and Telephone services as provided by NIPOST and NITEL.

Sub-Topic 1: Nigerian traditional means of communication.

Development and means of communication in Nigeria

In Nigeria, the earliest means of communication is the human voice. Communication then was based on the level of development at the time. Many other means of sending and receiving messages have been developed over the years.

Traditional media of communication include:

  1. Oral: This is the first means of communication to humanity. It involves face-to-face communication of information,
  2. Town criers: The village government messengers often acted as town criers, disseminating news from the village head, chief, and other officials of the government to the citizens. This was the traditional equivalent of government radio and television announcement of today. The town criers use gongs or drum or even a megaphone to call the attention of the crowd before disseminating the information to the people.
  3. Gongs: Gongs are hollow metals beaten with another metal to make announcements to members of a traditional community. On hearing the sound, people will gather at the village square to hear or discuss the latest development in the community.
  4. Palm frond: Palm frond is used to disseminate message to the people depending on the colour of the palm frond. A yellow palm frond is used to depict or signal danger while a green palm announces the availability of palm wine to buyers. The use of palm frond signifies peace during a period of dispute.
  5. Fire lighting: Fire is used to signal or call for help, especially if a person has lost his/her way in the forest. The smoke of the lit fire gives rescuers a sense of direction to the lost person.
  6. Talking /wooden drums: Drums are used to pass messages to people within the community. Different sounds are produced to mean different messages when the drum is struck. The head of the community can use it to assemble his people in a place.
  7. Canon gun blast: Canon gun blast is used to announce the commencement of a festival or great visitor to the community or the lowering of the corpse of a person into the grave.
  8. Others are whistles, bells trumpets and flute.

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