Mass Comm Project: Students Perception of Western Television Programmes(Part Eight )

2.7       REASONS FOR CULTURAL IMPERIALISM IN NIGERIA

There are a lot of reasons for cultural imperialism in broadcast media in Nigeria.

 FINANCE: The economy of the country is not in a good shape due to mismanagement and outright corruption. The financial crunch resulting from the bad economy acts like an incubus on television especially with regard to such programmes that involve huge financial stakes. Mid January, 2006, ten (10) broadcasting organizations (including some television stations) were closed down by the NBC for failure to fulfill their financial obligations to the commission, to enable the renewal of their broadcast licenses (Osakue and Elo, 2010). According to Silas Yisa (then Director General of the Commission) “after a mutually agreed decision in which the affected broadcasters were to pay half of the amount owed, most of them still refused to pay their debt, some as old as the day the stations commenced operations” (personal communication, January 19, 2006, cited in Osakue and Elo, 2010).  In a situation like this, the broadcast media may find it impossible to do their own programmes.

They make do with foreign programmes which are cheaper to obtain. They may also find it difficult, if not impossible to send correspondents to places to get news. It is no surprise then that the likes of CNN and BBC will continue to be the imperial sources of news for Nigerian television organizations. The fact of the paucity of funds to make programmes was acknowledged by Ben Murray – Bruce (then Director General of the NTA and now Chairman Silverbird TV) at the South African organized Sithengi Film and Broadcast Festival in 2000. In a remark to the Nigerian delegation to the festival, he said: But more importantly, let us see how we can work together to produce a full feature film, how we can produce programmes. You don’t have any problem with scripts and artistes. Your problems are in funding and equipment (Cited in Aihe, 2000). This factor, noted in 2000, is still a significant factor till date

LACK OF EQUIPMENT: Another factor mentioned by Murray – Bruce is equipment. Virtually all foreign stations of note have adopted satellite broadcasting. Among the organizations (NTA, HiTv and AIT) involved in satellite broadcasting in Nigeria, AIT remains the most vibrant. Locally, signals from most stations cannot be received more than fifty kilometers from their transmitters. So they cannot even send correspondents to far places to gather news. And when they do, such news cannot be broadcast instantly. To obviate the problem of broadcasting stale news, resort has to be made to foreign stations whose news items are relayed without editing.

QUALITY OF PROGRAMMES: The quality of programmes which is far from the standards of the ones from foreign stations. The lack of funds compels stations to rely on obsolete equipment which may not enhance the production of good programmes capable of sustaining viewers’ attention. So, cheap programmes are purchased from foreign stations to fill their air time and most viewers, especially the urban dwellers rue this and respond by acquiring DSTV equipment to watch quality programmes. For example, the African Cup of Nations (Football Championship) hosted by Ghana in 2008 was seen by DSTV subscribers on Super Sports rather than any of the local stations in Nigeria. And as the financial crunch continues to restrict broadcasting to only urban areas, it makes it worthwhile for those in the rural areas who can afford the DSTV to acquire it for commercial use. It is now a common feature for advertising hoardings to be placed at strategic places advertising upcoming premier league matches to be viewed for a fee. This is a new dimension that may eventually render Nigerian local stations irrelevant, if not redressed. The situation equally leads to indolence on the part of broadcasters who now hide under the façade of lack of funds to remain uncreative. Many of the stations lack the funds to train staff. So, the professionals become abjectly ignorant of current trends or latest equipment as a result. Training amounts to a few in-house workshops and seminars which are not adequate for the onerous job they perform.

 READ ALSO:  Mass Comm Project: Students Perception of Western Television Programmes(Part Seven)

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