Indigenous Media and Rural Development: The Case of Oil Producing Communities in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

This study is an attempt to provide lucid and perhaps comprehensive information on the role of traditional media on rural development in four oil producing communities in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. It identifies types of traditional communication channels available for rural development, it examines the effectiveness of these channels of communication, and establishes how messages are packaged and presented in performance. The study employed descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprised 200 respondents sampled from the four communities. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 50 out of 200 respondents that constituted the sample for this study each from the four communitiesin Ikot Abasi Local Government, Akwa Ibom State. The result of the study among others showed that indigenous media are still being effectively used on rural development. Apparently vast majority of respondents strongly agreed that indigenous media are effective in disseminating information on rural development. The findings also showed that indigenous media facilitates communication among the rural people on community development. The study among others recommended that the government through the ministry of information and culture should improve the role of folk mediaby organizing regular workshops and seminar for the training of stakeholders in media operations.