Jerarquía de valores que manifiestan actualmente los

41 capacity also, he becomes a member of the respected ‘Council of Chiefs’ which constitutes the cabinet of the king. The council of chief assists the king in the decision making process and play the roles of ‘Advisers.’

With this office also comes responsibility. For instance, the chief must be one with great moral integrity. In this sense, he is not expected to be found morally wanting. For example, chiefs should not engage in adulterous practices or incestuous congresses, stealing, sorcery and murder. And when he is found wanting, he loses the respect of his subjects and the consequences is that he will be ‘destooled’ (removed) from his office and replaced. Generally, chiefs are supposed to be generous, kind, humble, respectful to elders and defend the traditions of the community.¹⁰⁴ Only men were appointed as chiefs because Auchi was (is) still largely patrilinear.

However, the changes in the global world are also having its effect both on the structure of the chieftainship and the values attached to this sacred institution. Most present day chiefs are educated persons with western ideas, and many now perceive the office as one which places them above others. In other words, social prestige and economic interests are now the motivating factors or driving forces for those who take this office. Some chiefs today even combine government jobs with their Chieftaincyship, due to poor economic situation, and the result is that the traditional life style of the Chieftaincyship has been completely altered. Most striking is that some chiefs even spend less and less time in the local village communities for which they are chiefs, preferring to spend more of their time in cities in order to enjoy the comforts they offer.

42 while at the same time proclaiming verbally a message usually from the Oghie (King) or from the council of chiefs. The bell draws the attention of the people to listen and pay attention to the message being conveyed. Such a proclamation expects the people to act on the message.

Such a message could be one of an impending event such as visit of a government official or health personnel. The Otsabo must be able to speak as loud and as clear as possible for the people to understand the message being passed acrossed.

2.8.2 VILLAGE SQUARE GONG (OKONGA)

Unlike in the case of Otsabo in which the attention of the villagers is not necessarily required in the village square (meeting place of the entire community), in the case of the Village square gong form of communication, the immediate presence of the villagers is required at the village square. When there is an information to be passed acrossed, usually urgent in nature, the ‘Okonga’(a very big, usually unmovable drum, situated at the centre of the village square, is struck, and depending on the kind of sound or tone it produces, the people must leave whatever they are doing and proceed immediately to the village square. Such urgent messages could be the outburst of a war or the outbreak of an ‘unknown’ epidemic, or the death of very important personality in the village. The drummer, who is usually trained in the art, beats the drum in such a way as to produce a unique and peculiar sound, by which the villagers recognise at once for what purpose their presence is being sought e.g. war, disease epidemic or death of an important village personality. As soon as they are assembled in the square, the messages are passed across to them and they are instructed on what next to do. In Yoruba parts of Nigeria, they do not have immobile drums as the Auchis. Instead they have ‘talking drums’ (Gangan) used mainly for festivities such as marriage, naming ceremonies and coronation of a chief. They are mobile and easy to carry around.

2.8.3 INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

This form of communication is perhaps the oldest form of communication known to mankind.

Because the villages are normally built as clusters, information is easy to pass across. For example, there are small villages with clusters of between 30 to 50 families and information known by an individual soon spreads such that in minutes the entire village is well informed about such a message. Such information could be passed across in the market place, on the roads to the farms, by the river banks, in places of worship and in story-telling arenas.

No doubt, this method carries with it a very high tendency of the information being distorted by the time it has gotten beyond the third cycle. Thus, the more the information passes from

43 one person to the other, the more the tendency that that story will be distorted. Ayo Ogunsiji and Yinka Adeoya give three factors which affect the accuracy of information at the level of interpersonal communication: (i) a person’s mental capacity and efficiency at saving and retrieving information; (ii) a person’s emotional disposition and/or bias at reproducing and interpreting stored information; and (iii) other factors.¹⁰⁵ These other factors, which Ogunsiji and Adeoye did not elucidate could, in my opinion also include the person’s physical health at that time, the personal relationship with the person with whom the information is being shared, and the closeness of one or both of the parties to the source and/or subject of the information

However, with the ever-growing influence of urbanisation, as well increase in population, these methods are no longer sufficient. In an Auchi community like Agenebode with a population of about 15, 000 persons and scattered over a wide expanse of 1, 133km² land mass, it is difficult for either the Otsabo, the Okonga or the interpersonal communication methods to be solely relied upon. Thus, it is common these days in some villages to see public address systems, such as microphones and speakers, mounted at specific locations in the village to pass across important information. Also schools, churches and mosques have also become useful means of disseminating information in many towns and villages in Auchi.

105 Ayo Ogunsiji/Yinka Adeoye, 2005, “Language and Communication in the traditional African Society: The Yoruba Example”, in: Ademola Ajayi (Ed.), African Culture and Civilization, Ibadan, p. 337.

44 CHAPTER THREE

MASS MEDIA: CONCEPT, DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIO-CULTURAL DYNAMICS