Development for any environment is not just a singular process by a
certain description or solution. It is a repetitive and communal
activity that loops itself over time with a variety of infusions: It is a
hydra of connected blood tissues, veins and arteries. What we have
observed is that for a society to develop, there must be a connectivity
factor from the proposed solution to reach the citizens and appeal to
them to increase their capacities - from where they are to where they
could be – either through community efforts, education, practice or want
for a greater tomorrow. This is why we have things like Public
Relations, Advertising and Marketing. A highly underrated but extremely
relevant angle to development is the Media, popularly known as Mass
Media in all its forms.
The media is a channel of information. There is a saying: “As a man thinketh, so is he.” This
is very true in our world – in the present, historical or future terms.
What we often times forget is that we are aided to think by what we
hear, see, feel and experience. This thought process brings about the
things we create. Many created things have been brought about by
observation, either in nature or in artificiality: planes from birds,
cars from animals or devices from movies. When we think of the media, we
only focus on what we can identify as media per time, and we assume
that we control the media and as such there is no influence on us and
who we become. The truth is that the media controls us, and just like
the food we eat, we are what we consume. What we see over and over
again, we slowly become.
In ancient history, there are thousands and hundreds of thousands of
records that show how writers created things that did not yet exist,
only for it to surface into reality in the nearer future. Our closest
example could be the work being done by the team at TESLA and other
corporations, who have begun testing models for both electric and
driverless cars. It is no longer news that very soon, some of us will
move from place to place driven by an automated vehicle. Who would have
thought of such?
I can tell you who! Members of the group known as Thinkers (The Brain
of Society). Referring to my previous article on how society is
divided, we can see the class of people who come from the brain are
usually creating more and more things that did not exist in the time
which they created them and they come either in the form of writers or
inventors alike: Einstein’s theory of Relativity, Archimedes’ theory of
the pulley system, J.K Rowling’s Monsters and Magic in her imaginative
books, William Harvey and the discovery of the circulation of blood,
countless imaginative writers who invented cars, bikes, weapons and
other things which inspired many inventors to create a model from. The
ability members of The Brain shares is to create things that they feel
should be in a world where it is not. If you are to trace in history,
you would see that there have been lots and lots of works such as flying
cars, flying people and even a world where food is not grown but
created by chemicals that have been proposed by these creators. When we
read these researches and ideas proposed by these people, we wonder, and
sometimes jeer about the possibility and thought that it ultimately
brings to us. For many of the people in this ‘brain class’, it does not
stop there. They keep working at their ideas until one day: Eureka! Something
unique is born. It is not uncommon, therefore, to hear that many a
great invention was sparked off by something the creator saw, read,
heard or experienced somewhere. And this is where this great group comes
in: The Media.
The Media is a channel, a process to sharing knowledge; and this can
be used for great good or uncommon evil. Either for gain or loss is
beside the point. The point is that what the media pushes out to the
public it serves is what the public will consume, and return to the
media as its output; they have a large input and impact on what
productivity a society produces.
African Media, still in its infancy, has a long way to go in
understanding the role that it plays in our societal developmental
plans. Every day we see people think that the only members of the media
team with developmental impact are the journalists, news casters and
information agents: but they are wrong, extremely wrong. The African
media are the writers, the movie makers, the documentary creators and
the information distributors. It is not enough to know this as a fact,
we need it to be practised. In life, you cannot claim to be one thing
and believe in another; the only person you deceive will be yourself.
The African rhetoric in almost all its avenues is one of poverty and
reliance on others for survival and support for sustenance. When does
Africa get to give? When do Africans get to Live? When do Africans get
to Be? This has to change! For it to change, the African people need to
believe in something greater than themselves, not just a religious call.
They need to believe in a better circumstance. Africans need to see
beyond the Nollywood and African Home Video productions, which replay
the lives they already have until mediocre becomes the norm; not leaving
much room for inventions, creations and beautifications; to do
something simply because it is good to be done not just what they can
benefit doing it.
African Media can help, and they need to more than step-up to the
plate. They need to see themselves as much more than just a news,
information, entertainment or social function player. They need to
realise that the African Mind is waiting for an inspiration, and every
negative or demeaning portrayal that they release, will only help to
discourage the potential of the greatness of the African people. To the
media members of Africa, we say: “Let your imaginations fly, create
those innovations that you cannot yet create, postulate those theories
that seem so impossible, imagine a world where Africa is king and, when
you are done, send out that information so the African kings among us
may rise, rule and lead us with grace to a greater tomorrow, today”
Kindly refer to the table below as a reminder of the Human Body to Society Reference.
| Country Role | Body Part | Bodily Function |
| Leadership | The Face (The Identity) | Identity Creation and Presentation Management |
| Scientists/ Inventor/ Artist/ Creator/ Innovator/ Philosopher (Thinker) | The Brain (The System) | To Provide Solutions, Create Ideas and Structure for Societal Sustenance |
| Process Engagement/ End- User (Consumer) | The Stomach (Public Citizens) | Beneficiary of Solutions, services and products created by the System/ community. They need to be fed when hungry for something new |
| Executioners/ Skilled workers/ Labour workers | The Hands and Feet (Industry) | To build and ensure distribution to all required tasks as designed by the system |
| Activists and Humanitarian Services | The Heart (The Conscience) | They look out for the interests of the entire body, ensuring that every part gets its fair share of blood supply which means the resources built by the society |
| Historical Component (Library, City Halls, Records) | The Internal Organs, Lungs, Intestines, Liver, Kidney (Historical Data Site) | They serve as the evidence of existence of the society and milestones achieved during a set period in time |
| Motivational Speakers, Preachers, Media, Information Management & Processing | Nerves, Veins, Blood, Vessels (Communication Network) | They are in charge of information distribution, sending data to all parts as required, knowing the state of the body (Society/ Community) |
| Military, Police, Navy, Structural Organizations: Insurance, Banking, Legal, Organized Funding | Bones, Skeletal Structure, Joints, Muscles | They Ensure a strong stature and proper human or societal physique. It is important to note that they create the strength perception of the society or person by another individual or community |
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