Guardian

Being concluding part of the text of the maiden inaugural lecture delivered by Prof. Nosa Owens-Ibie, Ph.D, professor of Communication, Media and Development, at Caleb University, Imota, Lagos, on April 9, 2013. (The second part was published on Thursday, May 9, 2013.

DESPITE such reactions Ezeobi (2013) has reported the existence of a gay club in Lagos. Cynthia Osokogu, a student of Nasarawa State University was lured to her death by male friends she made through Facebook (Abdulsalami, 2012; Alao, 2012). Fagorusi (2013: 13) analyzed the impact of the social media platform 2go with 12.5 million subscribers in Nigeria compared to Facebook (6.63 million) and Blackberry (about 2.5 million). The network was founded by two computer science students of the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, has more male than female users mainly in the 15-24 years bracket, is quite popular with pupils of secondary schools and many young people who are out of school, can run on different types of phones, allows anonymity and its “flirt and relationship rooms” are heavily patronised. He told the story of his friend’s 23-year old sister, who was then four months pregnant through a relationship contracted through 2go though both of them were living in Kaduna and Oyo – a distance of 655 kilometres. They found a way of overcoming the physical distance after three months of communicating via 2go. Nigeria subscribers on the 2go platform represent 61% of its users.

Despite exciting developments and the recourse to the trappings of popular culture to fill an obvious void, a study has found that people have become unhappier since 2009. A University of Vermont team monitored over a three –year period 63 million Twitter users and found that “except for a rise between January and April 2009, happiness is in sharp decline online” (McMillan, 2011).As it is in the United States, so it is emerging in Nigeria.

A Centenary Circle

Brown (2012: 4-6), while announcing the supervised interment of the print edition of Newsweek magazine and the introduction of its digital replacement, wrote definitively about an inevitability. She said that the decision of the 80-year old international newsweekly to go digital is one fact their competitors “will one day need to embrace with the same fervor”.

The development process in Nigeria echoes such inevitabilities with variants of a subsisting dependency philosophy playing out.  Berrigan (1979: 11) had noted that development is “for Man, by Man, and of Man”, but the operationalisation of its processes has increasingly tended to equate development with a modernization philosophy with indices rooted in global specifications and other externalities which in a context is accommodating and in another somewhat dismissive of the logics which define/d traditional societies. Tehranian (see Watson, 2003: 28) in fact avers that modernization as a process involves the “universal leveling of societies into relatively homogenous entities”. Since societies “enculturise” individuals, cultivating them through socialization into “expected patterns of behaviours” (Watson, 2003: 12), the State of the Act points in the direction of an orientation for Nigerian development rooted in ironic disorientations. And that fits a pattern starting with the colony. Abdullahi’s (1991: 17-18) quote of the Dual Mandate of Lord Frederick Lugard published in 1922 illuminates this perspective again drawing attention to the Romans

As Roman imperialism laid the foundations for modern civilization, and led the wild barbarians of those islands along the paths of progress, so in Africa today… we are repaying the debt, and bringing to the dark places of the earth, the abode of barbarianism and cruelty, the torch of culture and progress, while ministering to the material needs of our own civilization...Let it be admitted at the outset that…Europe is in Africa for the mutual benefit of her two industrial classes, and of  the native races  in their progress to a higher plane; that the benefit can be made reciprocal, and it is the aim and desire of civilized administration to fulfil this dual mandate.

Film played an instrumental role in the actualization of the Mandate. Mgbejume (1989: 2-3) provides insights into this phase in the evolution of film in Nigeria. The Colonial Film Unit was interested in films which “…always draw a large number of unsophisticated African folks who will laugh at the most inconsequential things (but generally two or three shots late); quantity rather than quality is the significant thing”. Many of these films tended to give a skewed picture of the Western reality “making it luxurious, non-moral if not immoral and almost certainly materialistic”. The use of guns to earn a living got its early expression in some of those films. While a Black writer, Richard Wright in 1948 worried about the impact of ideas conveyed through these films on African natives concerned about their potential to destroy their “communal, fragile, traditional, tribal and almost sacred institutions”, Colin Beale, Secretary, Edinburgh House for Visual Aids, made the following remarks during the 1948 Conference on Film in Colonial Government:

I am convinced that for the African, with his primitive mind, his pitifully

meagre mental outlook, his lack of general cultural background, his semi

and often total illiteracy, his sense of wonder and his love of fun, the cinema

could have an almost immeasurably great future. We believe that educational

films, together with morally uplifting “entertainment” pictures both

serious s and comic (the African has a delightfully unspoiled sense of

nonsense and a hearty laugh is a well-known relief to emotional strain),

would do much to relieve the soul-destroying boredom which is doing so

much to make the African of today an easy prey of materialistic agitators

of every kind

The outcome of motives and actions in the colony and post-colony explains the current scenario where globalization is on the march and there is an incremental but unfolding whittling of the boundaries of tradition despite levels of cultural resistance. Enforcement and other regulatory mechanisms appear constrained by demand and supply side economics and the result is evident in variations of the rules of engagement with constituencies, including the media. In 2004 for instance, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) stopped the live feed of some BBC programmes on Ray Power 100.5 FM, but by October 2011, the programmes returned. Today, Brila 88.9 FM, Cool 96.9 FM and Beat 99.9 FM, among others air programmes deriving from partnerships with international broadcasters. The love of the English Premier League has become the beginning of entertainment for electronic and print media in Nigeria and the Spanish and Italian leagues are gaining in popularity. American basketball, tennis, golf are regular offers. Channels Television’s programme - The American Example is only one in a string of programmes and features by electronic and print media spotlighting the attractions of that country.

These however may just be the icing on a cake filled with negatives patterned along conventional definition of news as exaltation of the shocking, negative and whatever represents a deviation from order. In the process, the vulnerabilities of the more developed world, especially America gets daily amplified and relayed. This is not just about a fiscal cliff but about an empire on the cliff. Many who are enamoured by the attractions of America therefore worry because the trends are replaying gradually and systematically in a satellite like Nigeria.

The Bible in Galatians 5: 9 (King James Version) states that “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump”. On the one hand therefore is a country that rose from the contradictions of colonialism, slavery, racial discrimination, and economic vicissitudes, translating its disadvantages to become the pre-eminent global force shaping the destinies of nations; a nation where the dream of a Martin Luther King Jnr has translated to an African-American occupying the White House in one sign that left many gasping in disbelief and wonder and who has now despite the challenges won a second term in office. Here is a country that is inventing, refining and deploying the products of science and technology to consolidate its dominance of a global space (and outer space) in the midst of a spirited positioning by a country like China which is clear enough about its willingness to supplant the American Dream. Here is a country that has worked systematically and assiduously to stamp its imprint economically, politically and technologically in all corners of the world in a carefully cultivated script and through national and global institutions and organizations which have become a part of the reality from the North Pole to the South Pole. Here is a country that has evolved a cultural package and unrelentingly marketed it so well that like Owens-Ibie (1990) concludes, America is now “our America.” Here is a country that has defined benchmarks in the professions providing reference points for global and national standards. Here is the country of the Pulitzers in journalism, the Grammys in music, the Oscars in the motion picture industries yearly packaged to hold the rest of the world captive, yearning for the next outing. Here is the country that has sold itself as a destination of hope no matter where you come from, showcasing sports stars, scientists, journalists, academics and professionals, entrepreneurs who left their countries and achieved their dreams in the land of opportunity.

But here too is an America which appears in what amounts to an ironic wander from history and eternal realities not to be learning the lessons from the Romans who lost a dream after 1200 years on the global stage. As Owens (2013) and other watchers of the current phase of the American Dream are noting, the unmaking of America is evident from the “little leaven” even while the big picture is one huge roller coaster rolling effortlessly like the World War 11German Panzer over tricky terrains. That little leaven targets the underbelly of that country steadily weakening the very foundations of its rise despite its preference for the enlargement of the coast of freedom, liberty and the liberation of the human spirit from the constrictions that limit its manifestation.

That little leaven while acknowledging the iconic moments of an Abraham Lincoln presidency and some other exceptional leadership in its history appear to discountenance what Lincoln symbolised as a man who stood for freedom and authored easily the most famous quote on democracy as “government of the people, by the people, for the people” but knew like Hebrews 11: 3 states that “things which are seen were not made of things which do appear”. Lincoln used “Under God” in three major addresses (White, 2008: 58) acknowledging in the process that there is a God which created and controls the affairs of men. Such a stand is now grand foolishness to many in that country and elsewhere. As 1 Corinthians 2: 14 states it is a case of the natural man not ever imagining or being in a position to understand the workings of such spiritual principles.

In an age of drones, missiles, smart bombs, phones and electronic devices, the internet and connectivity, there has to be some other explanations for the how in other happenings which defy the logic of an all-powerful country. But as Psalms 11: 3 states, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” The issue is more about the values and logics which made America great and if what is happening now is not a replication of a trend which is decidedly Roman.

On the other hand is resource-rich Nigeria which captures in its trajectory hopes of the African possibility and is realistically or sarcastically labelled the “Giant of Africa”. Developments in Nigeria affirm the country’s status as a fundamentally mainstreaming transitional society. In its centenary, the country has defied rational explanations and continues to amaze even its citizens with its staying power despite ramifying contradictions. Through its strengths and challenges Nigeria has become the battleground for a multiplicity of forces targeting its soul and from which has emerged discernible patterns. One major beneficiary of the struggle has been America which presence is obvious in key areas of national and local life. The communication process and media transmit one gain after the other for American popular culture, among other downloads of the American Dream. They are active midwives to an evolutionary phase that is seeing Nigeria gradually coalesce as Naija (no small thanks, among others, to the contributions of Etisalat’s rave commercial “Naija for Life” and now an institutionalization of a dilution of name through Naija 102.7 FM in the commercial hub of Lagos, in the more obvious scenario.

The simultaneous relay of models of academic and other achievements and the privations and deprivations of life in America reflect a conflictive essence. The “death of good taste” is yielding folk heroes and trends disruptive of local values.  Media are also serving as tools for the transmission of elements of the still unfolding heritage.

Nigeria is therefore caught in a web and in the game of the little leaven with a somewhat complicated future outlook which combine poorly with the subsisting challenges of leadership, corruption, ethnicity, management of religious differences and image issues borne of individual and group desperations. Nations ignore their strengths to their peril but the management of internal contradictions with an eye on the small picture through a rediscovery of purposeful and focused leadership assures a place for a redeemable future and the undoubted possibility of a Nigeria that still has real prospects of overcoming its dilemmas.

Food for the Road

Globalization has provided a vital springboard for Americanization. Americanization has consolidated the penetration of American popular culture with different national variants. Popular culture has spawned hybridization across barriers, including in traditional societies. Communication has been the faithful servant mutually relaying patterns, currents and undercurrents of influence.  In the process, communication has become the transmission belt of an unfolding scenario where drivers appear to be losing control of the internal mechanics which defined the rise of empire while satellite stations are rebroadcasting in exciting and pliant befuddlement.

If the freefall that reduced the Roman Empire from a behemoth wiping out the gains of 1200 years is replaying with the official relegation of God in the clan of the more developed world or unofficial disinclination to further official declarations on the fear of God or being “Under God” in Nigeria in particular, then this is a wakeup call to an avoidable inevitable: LET US PRAY!

Acknowledgements

I thank the Almighty God for He has been everything to me and my family. He has been faithful, daily revealing Himself as the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient God in our lives. His salvation through Jesus Christ has meant the world to us and we are grateful that we have a friend indeed in Him.

I want to appreciate my darling wife, friend and the one God has used to support me in more ways than I can express. Mrs Stella Osamuende Owens-Ibie has always been there for me and the children and I thank God for she is a gift to me and us. Since I knew that my birthday was too close to fully prepare for this lecture given the preparation for our 2nd convocation, the next option was to select today April 9, 2013 which is the birthday of our first child – Osamudiamen Osamuende Owens-Ibie. With her sister, Nosarieme Osarumwense Owens-Ibie, God has demonstrated that girls are indeed special. I remember with nostalgia the investments of my late father Henry Owenorisiede (Owens) who had little education and was of average means but believed so much in and invested in the education of his children and my late mother Juliana Orhionpaizihowa Uvbinekhui who had no education but lived a life of selflessness and kept praying for others and us her children. I want to thank my siblings and their wives/husbands -  Dr Noma & Dr (Mrs) Cynthia Owens-Ibie, Nogieru (Osaro) & Shola Owens-Ibie, Nomayo (Joy) & Theodora Owens-Ibie, Osarenoma Owens-Ibie, Aisu Owens-Ibie, Faith & Peter Olagbegi, Franca & Ovie Esiri, my step-mothers and others in my nuclear and extended maternal (Auntie Grace, Eunice and Helen [nee Agho])and their families (Nagudias, Ehanires, Ikhuenbos, Usos, Ogbomwans) and paternal family (Ibies, Odins). My in-laws – Igies, Osagies, Osifos and Ibizugbes, without exception continue to be so wonderful. We are a large family.

I want to thank the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ayodeji Olukoju for his head-hunting which led to my coming over to this university. It has been an interesting experience. He was the first to suggest last year that I consider giving the maiden Inaugural Lecture. I appreciate the efforts of the Proprietor of this institution, Dr Oladega Adebogun, because if Caleb University was not established, we won’t be having an Inaugural Lecture today. I also appreciate the Pro-Chancellor, Prof Fola Tayo who called me months ago to encourage me to give this Inaugural lecture. To all the principal officers, Deans and all staff (full-time and adjunct) and students of Caleb University and its Department of Mass Communication, thank you for being part of the unique process of unravelling the huge potential unlocking in this citadel of learning

I remain grateful to late, Prof Alfred Opubor who recommended me for my first major job, not knowing that another friend Mr. Ray Ekpu also recommended me for the same job.

Prof Onuora Nwuneli takes the credit for offering me my first academic position at the University of Lagos. Prof Idowu Sobowale the day before I left for my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Benue State met me at the Queens College Bus-Stop, Onike, Yaba, Lagos and requested if I would be willing to serve in my alma mater. I honoured the invitation by redeploying from Benue State and in spite of being given a very attractive posting on returning to Lagos. He thus was the first to draw me to the path of a subsequent academic career. Prof Andrew Moemeka bought books to support me as a   lecturer and sent them by courier from his base then in the United States.

Let me also thank Profs Ralph Akinfeleye and Luke Uka Uche who variously served as Head, Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos when I was there and other colleagues and friends who mean so much to us including Lanre and Jumoke Oyegbola, Dr (Mrs) Oluyinka Esan, Prof. Lai Oso, Prof Umaru & Mrs Zainab Pate, Dr Abigail Ogwezzy-Ndisika, Dr Musa Abutudu, Abimbola Olasoji, Tunde Kajogbola, Lanre Idowu, Prof Adigun Agbaje, Dr Adidi Uyo, Alex Osunde, Nosa Igiebor, Bruce Ugiomoh, Dr Abel Ugba, Dr Dele Ige, Frank Aigbogun, Prof Eghosa Osaghae, Eluem Emeka Izeze,  Onero & Martha Alao-Peters, Prof Placid & Dr (Mrs) Bola Njoku, Tommy Odemwingie, Nosike Agokei, Joshua & Liyatu Kaura, Prof Dayo Alao, Dr Bayo Oloyede, Prof Festus Egwaikhide, Prof Olufemi Onabajo, Dora (Ajayi) Usiobaifo, Dama & Christie Afabor, Ben & Victoria Efeturi, Segun & Fine Oludayo, Dr Yinka & Mrs Remi Bolaji, Pastor Laitan Olubiyi, Kayode & Mary Oguntimehin,  Soni Irabor, Dr Ademola Adeyinka, Toyosi Johnston, Deacon Godwin & Mrs Chioma Azih, Oluwatoyin Samson Godday, Mr Yemi & Dr (Mrs) Yemi Fadeyibi, Dr (Mrs) Bola Adetoun,  Bose Archibong, Dr Femi Adediran, Peter Omorotionmwan, Mr & Mrs Godwin Ogaga-Oghene, Pastor & Mrs Bode Adekeye, Peter & Toyin Alade, Nike Oriola, Aderonke Abosede Bello, Batilloi Warritay, Felicia Tobi, Dr Eddy Akpomera, Rev Femi Fatunmbi, Stanley Ero, Emmanuel Olushola, Tunde Ojo, Sam Adurogboye, Sam Orovwuje, Chris Ajufoh, Charles Omonaide, Eddy Emmanuel, Dr Osahon Osagie, Prof Francis & Yinka Egbokare, Ikpomwonsa Osifo, Funsho Alimi, Dr Segun Olatunji, David Akintola, Dr John & Mrs Joy Agbonifo, Dr Bello Umaru Dogondaji,  Bola Bolawole, Remi Ibitola, Lekan Otufodunrin, Ikeddy Isiguzo, Prof Abubakar Momoh, Kola Danisa, Yinka Kadri, Shola Hassan, Fred Ohwawha, Clare Onasanya, Dr Olusegun Ojomo, Prof Daniel ‘Wale Awodiya, Dr Franca Odeka (nee Osarumwense), Dr Bolaji Fapohunda, Ekong Emah, Bola Kusemiju, JKT Ajiboye, James Atusue, Osaretin Adonri, Charles Emelue, Clem & Patience Ekeoba, Yomi Martins,  Gerald Osugo, Mike Osunde, Declan Okpalaeke, Dipo Ojedeji, Chioma Enyinnaya, Gabriel & Zefe Giametse, Prof Iyke Ezeagwu, Dr Sylvester Igbedioh, Dr Layi Sobamiwa, Tunde Akande, Soga Odubona, Myke Esiri, Tolu Olanrewaju, Segun Labiran, Timothy Obot, Juditha Ononose, Eunice Damisa, Omowale Adelabu, Harrison George, Emma Okwuke, Chinedu Ikogwe, Okon Akpama, Dare Oyewale, Razak Asaju, Dr Levi Obijiofor, Prof Segun Ayadi, Tunji Olugbodi, Ayo Oluwatosin, Mike Agbonkhina, Adeola Olunloyo, Regina Ogbodo, Emeka Diogu, Ijeoma Onyeator, Emmanuel Richard, Dr Ayotunde Alao, Gbenro Adebanjo, Ibim Semenitari, Itunu Iyun, Ifedolapo Ademosu, Eguono Ejenobor, Biodun and Josephine Oyeleye, Prof Eno Akpabio, Prof Innocent Okoye, Jimi Kayode, Gbenga Kalejaiye, Dr Victor Ayedun-Aluma, Dr Bunmi Ajibade, Dr. Ismail Ibrahim, Dr Yomi Daramola, Dr Soji Alabi, Dr Oloruntola Sunday, Dr Adepoju Tejumaiye and the entire mass communication faculty and my other former students at UNILAG and friends/colleagues at the University of Ibadan, Lagos State University, University of Maiduguri, Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), other universities, and the brand new Communication Association of Nigeria (CANI).

Where do I even start from in recognizing the pastors, ministers and brethren? I remember Evangelist & Mrs Richard Adesokan; Pastor Simon Adigun Arowolo, Pastor Olayinka, University College Hospital, Ibadan Christ Chapel,; Royal Family, Garden of Life, Miracle Centre, Bethel, White Chapel parishes in Lagos, Upper Room Assembly/Area and now Zone, and our very dear Divine Love Assembly in Abuja, Royal Parish and former Dominion Area in Kano – all of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, the NISER Staff Fellowship, Couples Fellowship in Ibadan; and Caleb University Fellowship/ Chapel. I am grateful to God for the vision of the “Son Shine” Inspirational Web and Email Platform He gave me since June 17, 2004 and which weekly reveals “Insights through the Word”, and for those He has used to encourage its sustenance, including Pastor & Mrs Joseph Agbi and Meshack Masha from Kenya who has been the most consistent among readers in responding to Son Shine mails.

I also appreciate the wonders of God and friends and colleagues in the UN System (especially the World Health Organization, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Population Fund [UNFPA]). I cherish friends at the various governments, non-governmental and international agencies.

For the many others too numerous to mention individually who have been part of the stages of me and my family’s life, I say a big thank you. Please forgive me if I did not mention you by name. I am sure you understand. There are more people God has used in my life than I can possibly reflect in this space. God bless you all. May His will for our lives be done in Jesus name, Amen. God is our help in ages past and remains our hope for years to come.

To the King of kings and Lord of lords alone belongs all the glory.