Learning from past censuses – Tribune Online

THE mass media function as a society’s record keeping, documenting its history. Researchers have argued that African musicians are journalists and their creative work qualifies as media content. After reflecting on the magnitude of their work’s influence, I come to the conclusion that musicians also fulfill all of the media functions emphasized by Harold Lasswell and Charles Wright – Surveillance, Correlation, Cultural Transmission, and Entertainment. This reality emerges as I reflected on musicians’ contributions to the socialization process when I recently taught “Theories of Mass Communication” to my students. To justify this claim, I referenced one of the songs by a Nigerian musician, the late Ayinla Kollington, about the national census and how it served the dual function of correlation and entertainment. I also noticed how his songs documented the historical events such as the Nigeria census, which resonated with the literate and illiterate, poor and rich, educated and leading, children and adults, and all classes of people in society. Ayinla Kollington is one of the Nigerian musicians who dominated Fuji music from its inception in the 1970s to the 1990s when it had grown into one of the most popular dance genres in Nigeria.

Later that day, I decided to check the archives to get the actual lyrics of the National Census Kollington song, as I remembered with nostalgia how the song dominated the airwaves in my community when the album was released. During my search I came across Ayinla Omowura’s music which was listed 50 years ago in the 1973 Census. It was then that I remembered that my Guardian Mr. Bashir AbdulAzeez Fabunmi always had this song on the slate in the 80’s played. The National Population Census (NPC) recently announced that it will conduct the 2023 Population and Housing Census between March 29 and April 2, 2023. -in to allow full participation. To what extent are residents of Nigerians convinced to participate in this exercise? Do they actually know the benefits inherent in active participation in the census? Do Nigerians have full information on the proposed census? How could the government address conspiracy theories and false information related to the 2023 census?

In communication parlance, we refer to the approach to take in this circumstance as “Communication for Development”. Therefore, experts in this field expect NPC to use different communication strategies. I must the NPC team led by its chairman, Hon. Nasir Isa Kwarra, for her efforts to date to ensure that all stakeholders are adequately informed about the exercise. But they need to look beyond current approaches to address the challenges highlighted in the questions above. An approach that should be taken by NPC to meet these challenges is the acceptance of music that has the magical aura and power to unite Nigerians. Entertainment plays a major role in terms of impacting all social strata of Nigerian society. Music is now big business, a real mobilization tool, propaganda tool and a communication strategy for behavior and attitude change that is needed right now.

Game theory is one of the mass communication theories I exposed my students to over the course of my college. The basic assumption of the theory is that the public uses the media more for play than for work. While discussing the uses and gratification theory, students accept the hypothesis that they use the media (radio, television, computer, smartphone, etc.) more for entertainment to satisfy their needs than for work and academic activities. This experiment should therefore serve as motivation for the NPC to consider using entertainment such as music to provide adequate information in the 2023 census, mobilize stakeholders, combat disinformation and conspiracy theories, and be a catalyst for behavior and behavior change.

For this reason, I will analyze the songs of the two Ayinlas (Omuwura and Kollington) to explore the golden lessons that NPC and other stakeholders can draw from approaches taken in previous censuses in Nigeria, as documented by the musicians. Why Nigerians Should Participate in the Census – Ayinla Omowura In an article titled, “The Framing of Political Messages in Ayinla Omowura’s Song-Texts,” Olayinka Egbokhare and Israel Ayinla Fadipe x-ray Ayinla’s song as a “Roadmap to Nation Building” as it pertains to the national census conducted about 50 years ago: Leader: Anfani senso yiga o (These benefits of census are many) Fun eniti o ye (for those who don’t know) Sun mo mini bi (Let them come closer to me). Leader: November 25, 1973 (November 25, 1973) Chorus: Lojo Sunday, mofojuri (On Sunday I was an eyewitness) Emi ri soy kan pelu sisi kan (I saw a soldier and a lady) Won na won fe kawa nile wa (They said that they wanted to count us at home) Mo try moyege (I tried and excelled) Mo ri pe won ka gbogbo le yika (I made them count everything and everyone).

Ayinla Omowura was a Nigerian Apala musician who has been described as a social commentator, critic and moral instructor. “He often served as a mouthpiece to communicate government policy to the masses and was also a messenger from the masses back to the government”. In less than four minutes, Ayinla Omowura, in his song from about 50 years ago, emphasized the importance of Census in convincing Nigerians why they should participate in the exercise. Instead of directly asking the people of Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State – and by extension Nigerians – to participate in the 1973 census, Ayinla emphasized the basic social services and infrastructure needed in the capital.

These include: location of a university in Abeokuta, increase in maternity centers, improved portable water and stable electricity supply. Ayinla then identified how the census will help national planning, resource allocation, infrastructure and national development. He had previously endorsed the exercise, noting that he made every effort to ensure that his household members were counted. What a wonderful “advertising call”! NPC should further secure this type of approval in the 2023 Population and Housing Census.

The Ayinla Omuwura song also documented the approach of the then military regime of Ibrahim Bambangida to encourage full participation in the census. These include a week of public holiday for all students, civil servants closing early work, and additional three days of public holiday to enumerate all residents of Nigeria during the census period. Those who did not mark their thumb were not allowed to travel during the census. Ayinla also pointed out the level of acceptance of the exercise and approaches to avoid double or multiple counting of people. He reported that the acceptance rate is so high that some Nigerians are calling on census officials to count the unborn babies, adding that he did not support this. He praised the government for conducting the census and Nigerians for their active participation. Ayinla not only called on the government to ensure that the census figure was used to bring the necessary reforms and good governance to the country. He also noted that the census figure indicated that the female population is more than that of males, and advocated that women should always respect and care for their husbands to avoid marriage-related crises.

In the first verse or stanza of his song, he stated that he wanted to emphasize the importance of census, just as he had explained the issue of the Nigerian currency – the Naira. Coincidentally, 50 years later, the issues of the 2023 census and the redesign of the Naira are currently under discussion in Nigeria. Can we say that history repeats itself? This justifies musicians, like journalists, documenting historical events and calling some prophets.

How Ayinla Kollington campaigned for active citizen participation in national censuses

In 1991, Ayinla Kollington in his album “Ijo Yoyo” used part of the album to campaign for active citizen participation in Nigeria’s national census. In less than two minutes, Kolington developed a rhythm that emphasized the importance of censuses to national planning and development:

Mo ri bobo kan, senso! (I saw a young man. Chorus: census). Ni se lo n pe mi, senso! (He called me. chorus: census) Mo ni kilo tije?, censo! (I asked why does he call me? Chorus: census). Olohun fe kami, senso! (He said he wanted to count me chorus: census). Boda ewa kawa, senso! (Young man, please count us, chorus: census). Ewa kawa, sense! (Please come and count us, chorus: census). Boda eti kawa aa, senso! (Young man, you didn’t count us, chorus: census). Jeki won ka e tako tabo ooo, je ki won ka e tako tabo! (Let’s work with them to count both men and women)……

Kollington further gave the rationale for his advocacy of participating in the census. He explained that the census will provide a way for the government to provide basic services and respond to citizens’ demands for good governance. He also enlightened the public to report to authorities if they are not counted.

Music as a Social Mobilization Tool for the 2023 Census

It has been established that Ayinla Omowura and Kollington used their songs to document experiences in the previous national census in Nigeria. They used their music to mobilize citizens to think positively about the census. This is undoubtedly a real attitude and behavior change tool worth adopting before the 2023 elections.

It has been established that music is used to set an agenda, mobilize, inform, educate and entertain. It has a greater influence on the population, especially the youth who now take musicians as models, regardless of the message of their music. For this reason, the government should work with musicians to disseminate its programs, activities, and projects for wider participation and benefits.

The National Population Commission (NPC) should take an example from this experience to reverse the inadequate information, apathy, misinformation and conspiracy theories associated with the 2023 Population and Housing Census in Nigeria.

• Folarin is a lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication, Crescent University, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

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