GLOBALIZATION: MODE OF PENETRATION AND IMPACT ON REMOTE RURAL AREAS IN NIGERIA

This study investigated the effects of globalization on the local culture, especially the youth culture in Nigeria. The objective of the study was to investigate the extent of geographic comprehensiveness of the process, the instruments by which it is achieved and the driving agents of the process. To achieve the objective, 120 regular viewers of digital satellite television (DSTv) in Saghev District of Guma Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State, Nigeria were interviewed. The study found that channels and programmes frequently watched by youths in the area were all foreign. Specific programmes viewed include European football, wrestling, assorted films and product advertisements. The high foreign content of programmes has led to shift of preference from local football by 89.2%, local athletics by 72.5%, fairy and moral tales by 92.5% and traditional dances and music by 55.8%. These shifts are part of the emerging world “mass culture’’ which is being diffused from the main cultural hearths of Western Europe and United States of America through the instrumentality of the satellite television technology. The study concludes that since culture equips a society with capability for meaningful adaptation to its environment, and since culture is essentially a product of local environment, introducing alien culture ultimately does not solve issues of local development. Local rural communities must therefore be protected from undue exposure to foreign cultural influences.