Today’s Media and the Challenge of Preserving old Cultural Traditions

The present day Nigeria is made up of a nexus of people with divergent cultural values and systems, but bounded together by one geo-political entity.

From the old Northern region to the East, to the West and down South, various ethnic Nationalities with different traditional institutions, culture and customs exist despite a singular constitution as well as several edicts and bye-laws that politically string them together.

Despite the diverse primordial cultural values and traditions which predates Nigeria’s Independence in October 1, 1960, the challenge of aligning these cultures with modern constitutional norms became imperative. That notwithstanding, Government at the Federal, State and local levels have been able to operate without necessarily infringing on the cultural traditions of the ethnic Nationalities/kingdoms.

With the advent of social and new media, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Whatsapp, Viber, Youtube, Skype and Online Journalism amongst others, the existing cultural traditions of ethnic kingdoms have come under intense threat. This is evident in the manner reports of the alleged demise of prominent Nigeria kings such as Oba of Benin, Ooni of Ife and most recently the uncertainty that trails the health situation/yet-to-be confirmed death of the Olu of Warri broke out in the media.

These reports usually starts with the social media to online and later conventional print as well as electronic media, against the cultural traditions of the affected kingdoms, which stipulates a three-month silence period before officially announcing the transition of the monarchs.

The thrust of this piece hinges on the fact that ethnic kingdoms must devise a way to manage modern media in the quest at sustaining their old traditions.

Editor-In-chief

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