THE USE OF TRADITIONAL AFRICAN COMMUNICATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF BILLE COMMUNITY, RIVERS STATE

THE USE OF TRADITIONAL AFRICAN COMMUNICATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF BILLE COMMUNITY, RIVERS STATE

INTRODUCTION
1.1Background to the study
Development is a constant phenomenon equated with change that is visible in all aspects of human existence. As a concept, it deals with a stage or step in growth and advancement. According to communication scholars development is people centered and communication is a vital ingredient for development because of the availability of information to boost the standard of living of a people. The necessity for people to be a vital part of the development procedure makes communication an essential component for development to succeed because people need a familiar form of communication to enhance understanding for development to be successful. The health of a people is an integral part of their development. No sick person can enjoy development, therefore health and wellbeing of a person is an important part of their development.
Development as a term stands on the tripod of the agent, the recipient and change. The agent is the person or organization that initiates the change while the recipient is the receiver or beneficiaries of the initiative suggested by the agent. For any kind of change to be effective, it ought to be recognized and accepted by the recipient. Recognition and acceptance comes to be when the agent subscribes to the modes of communication that is known and acceptable to its recipient.
Communication on the other hand is a necessary tool in any given society and every facet of life because every creature’s existence largely depends on it. As a major instrument of growth and development, Communication is increasingly seen as a process through which the exchange and sharing of meaning is  possible and by which social relationships are maintained. It is a two way interactive process that demands participation of all parties involved.
According to Okon (2007), communication is a symbolic behaviour intended to elicit a response from the recipient, hence the initiator of any communication process must be strategic enough to record his desired impact on the recipient through the use of pertinent codes and symbols.These codes and symbols must be common to the people and generally accepted as their mode of transmitting messages whether for development or other reasons.
In Udoakah’s (1998) opinion, the world is nothing without communication and whether in the rural or urban dwellings, the proper communication channel is key,to attract sustain and maintain the attention of any group of persons before channelling their attention towards the content and essence of the message.Uche (1999) also presents communication as instrumental in development. He emphasizes that communication is for the reason of establishing mutual understanding among people and foster peaceful co-existence, conflict resolution and the cumulative development and well being of a social system.These two opinions are supported by Ndimele and Innocent (2006) as they view communication as an existence-related phenomenon. Communication message developers therefore, need to apply the media symbols and codes the message recipients (the community) can interpret so as to share the meaning and get the desired responses. The incapability of the communicator to do this renders the communication ineffective.
Traditional communication is regarded as the products of the interaction between a traditional communities customs and conflicts, harmony and strife, cultural convergences and divergences, culture specific tangibles, interpersonal relations, symbols and codes and moral traditions, which include mythology, oral literature, masquerades, witchcrafts, rights, rituals, music, dance, drama, costumes and similar abstractions and artifacts which covers a peoples factual, symbolic and cosmological existence from birth to death and even beyond death (Ubgoajah 1985; Uche, V.E.) Its harmony, discord, cultural affinities and disparities including its culture specific values and practices makes traditional communication unique.
Wilson (1990) asserted that traditional communication is very popular in rural areas and appeals to the sensitivity of rural dwellers. It is simple in its operation and upon trust for its credibility. It displays variety of credibility and characteristics such as dynamism, transactionality and being a multi-media and multi-channel system that gives it a unique image. He went further to advocate specific use of traditional communication, which he perceives as “the most common way by which the rural people communicate amongst themselves and in effect with others”(P.21).He stresses that traditional communication is an efficient means of disseminating information for a majority of rural people who trust and use this systems.They supplement information from this means with what filters in through opinion leaders from elsewhere. The pertinence of the traditional system of communication to the circumstances of the rural people enables meaning to be shared easily between message senders and rural dwellers.
Traditional African communication has to its advantage; accessibility to accurate information as it involves more than one sense, potential for cognitive gain, positive but restricted retention,high potential for effective change in the skill of the people and upholding of a particular message. The traditional media plays an important role in the advancement of rural communities. It has more appeal to the masses and qualities of touching the deepest emotions of the illiterate millions.
The Bille traditional system for the propagation of information include; the town crier, church, market square, age group meetings, compound meetings, festivals, songs and dance.
Bille town, like other coastal towns, is a low-lying land in the vast mangrove forest region of the Niger Delta and is only a few feet above the sea level. Its geographical coordinates are 4° 34' 37" North, 6° 53' 19" East.It is situated in the southeastern part of the present Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State. As an island, it was surrounded by water with a channel dividing it into two; namely, kalaanga and opuanga. The main land is now joined with the sand-filled area and extends into the mangrove forest, which is still being reclaimed.
According to Oral tradition, when Queen Ikpakiaba, the founder andAmabinbo of Billeand her peers left OkoloBille they first drove past an empty piece of land, a big forest and  later crossed the sea, (by another big forest) before arriving at the present Bille town after a fishing expedition and settled there.
The Amanyanabo (king) is the head of the Bille kingdom. He heads a council of chiefs with a chairman as his assistant. Bille town is divided into segments called polo or communities, and each has natural rulers called chiefs.Indeed, Bille is a rural community where the people believe in the efficacy of their ancestors and recognised deities. The Bille Council of chiefs meets regularly to deliberate on issues and passes resolutions, which are communicated to the people by the Town Crier with a gong round the town or in a community meeting, convened for that purpose.
The Town Crier is the official medium through whom decisions and proclamations of the chiefs and other official announcements are made known to the people. With his wooden gong, he moves anti-clockwise round the eleven communities that make up Bille kingdom. Also, churches are used as mode of communication for information to the populace.
Queen Ikpakiaba as the founder became the first ruler of the Bille Kingdom. When she died, there was no heir to the throne since she had no issue. The other men who settled with her were warlords with the title 'Opu'. These men were heads of their respective houses and provided war canoes during tribal wars and other community functions. They fought jointly and lived as equals and when the stool was vacant they selected one amongst themselves to be their leader or king who will reign until death before another was appointed. Thus no family can rightly claim the throne of the Amanyanabo of Bille because everyone can aspire and is qualified to be king. Also no child of a king or a chief has the hereditary right to the throne or chieftaincy stool becauseascending thesestools is by selection.
The Bille people have a prestigious tradition, which has been bequeathed to them by their ancestors. Like all African cultures, Traditional religion, which is an integral part of the Bille culture, is paramount among the Bille people. Here the goddess - Awoba - reigns supreme and is regarded as the provider of wants including protection from enemies and blessings of life. The deity is said to be so powerful that anything demanded from her can be received. There is at present a shrine - Awobawari- built for the goddess and is located in the centre of the town - the Awoba square. A Chief Priest, usually selected from a particular family, performs such duties as are cognate with the office of a priest of the traditional religion.
Usually celebrated after long intervals – between four to five years, the Agiri festival is a multi-masquerade show of a series of interesting masquerades numbering over fourteen.
Traditional marriage in Bille is well defined and rich in content. Marriage right in Bille is unique but equally simple and delicate. It is the custom of the Bille people to give out their daughters in marriage but the suitor is always reminded that he takes away only the body and not the bones. It is purely a simple process of giving out ones female child to a man in marriage with the proviso that; "menifeboingbefeya", meaning he who buys the flesh does not buy the bones. This literally translates that a man may marry a Bille woman but is required to bring back the corpse of such a wife back to Bille for interment on Bille soil.
The Bille man is predominantly a fisherman having been born to a fishing environment. Before the advent of western education, fishing was an integral part of his home education as every young boy was expected to accompany his father on fishing expeditions while the females joined their mothers in their own peculiar fishing activity - picking periwinkle (isemi), oyster (mgbe), ingolo and fetching of fire wood.
The women also weave fishing implements and other household items like fishing cards for measuring fish (kasa), fish traps (ikata), top section (head) of a fishing net (igbosibi), carved wood for mending nets (igbosulebala), baskets (kana) as well as other domestic jobs like cloth weaving and sewing.
1.2    Statement of the problem
Nwodu and Fab-Ukozor (2003) states that, traditional media carries out developmental functions in mobilizing grassroots support for active participation in development projects. Despite these potentials of traditional African communication, it is often under-utilized. Gambo and Aji (2008)opine that, there is sometimes outright resistance to giving it the recognition and application it deserves but use as a remedial instrument when other systems have failed.
In Billeits been observed that development health programmes carried out without the aid of the Community development committee (CDC) and Traditional rulers council rarely succeeds, no matter how good the projects are. Example; The 1999 Birth control campaign in Bille by the Salvation Army church and Rehabilitation of teenage mothers with Vagina prolapsed in 2010 by then Commissioner of Health and Women affairs in Rivers state.
This study therefore seeks to find out the role of traditional African communication in the development of Bille community.
  Objectives of the study
The objective of the study include:
To identify traditional communication modes of the Bille people;
To establish if the various mode of traditional communication have been deployed for the development of health projects and programmes in Bille community;
To find out the extent of Traditional communication modes  exploited by Government and Development Agencies in carrying out health programmes and project;
Examine the benefits and contributions  of the Bille Traditional Communication modes to the development of the kingdom;
To identify possible limitations and issues working against the use and practice of Traditional Communication media in Bille Kingdom.
1.4    Research questions
The research tends to provide answers to the following questions:
Are there significantly useful traditional modes of communication amongBille people?
Have development agencies significantly employed traditional communication to drive development health projects and programmes in Bille?
To what extent do the Government and Development Agencies make use of Bille Traditional modes of communication in health programmes and projects?
Are there benefits derived from the use of theof Traditional communication modes in thedevelopment of Bille Kingdom?
Are there constraints militating against the use of traditional communication modes in the development ofthe kingdom?

1.5      Significance of the study
This work will contribute to the adoptions of a sustainable mechanism through which government and development agencies can communicate with rural dwellers towards developing rural communities.
It will improve the traditional ways of communication and get the attention of the public (National and International bodies)to their existence and usefulness in the development and mobilization of people at the grassroots level towards community development and national consciousness. Also development communication scholars and students will better appreciate traditional communication in the gamut of communication studies as fundamental to developmentto educate development agencies and government parastatals capitalized on the use of traditional communication by Bille people to facilitate their acceptance and participation in development projects.
1.6    Scope of the study
The concept of development is quite broad and can be viewed in various forms. Hence, this study would concentrate on health development programmes or projects by government and development agencies in Bille community, and the applicability of trandational modes of communication towards the success and sustainability of such programmes.

1.7   Limitation
Traditional communication gained attention of communication scholars a few decades now. As such, the dearth of relevant literature in this area of communication studies was a serious constraint.
The absence of written works on the Bille tribe constraining task as well as the language barrier following the fact that I am not a native speaker of the Bille language.
1.8   Operational definition of terms
In this study, the following terms were operationally defined:
Development: Development as it applies to this work is the participation of rural dwellers in beneficial programmes and projects inimproving their standard of life; in health, agriculture, environment and all aspects.
Rural Development: This is social, economic and political changes directed towards the improvement of rural communities.
Kingdom: All the communities or territories under the leadership of the king of Bille kingdom.
Local Language: The indigenous language spoken by the people of the communities of Bille kingdom
Town crier:A person that disseminates information in thecommunity, going from one compound to another.
Traditional system of communication:  In this study, it refers to indigenous ways in which communication is conducted in traditional Bille.