THATCH WITH ANTENNA

Photograph by J. C. McCall

An antenna reveals a television in the older section of the village of Akanu, Ohafia. Televisions are common in Nigerian homes. One often sees antennas even in remote rural areas where, due to poverty, thatch roofs persist even though metal roofing has replace them in most areas. Every state in Nigeria has its own broadcast station and some have more than one. In the southern part of Nigeria where states are small, it is possible in some locales to receive up to eight broadcast channels. The rapidly growing production of locally made video movies is now establishing the television as an increasingly significant medium of Nigerian popular culture.