The town crier is an integral part of the administrative machinery of the traditional African society. The town crier is usually an adult male and functions as the information minister or public relation officer of the community. This paper will x-ray the important role of the town crier in effective dissemination of information in African societies.

Before the advent of the white man, Africans have been freely interacting/relating well with themselves. They lived in hamlets and villages as well as settlements. They usually hold their village/community meetings on their market days. Apart from this, they sometimes hold emergency meetings as occasions/situation demands.

The primary role of the town crier is to summon people to meetings. Let me stress the fact that some meetings are held at the compound of the village head. The place/venue of the meeting varies from one community to the other. In Igbo societies for instance, most of their meetings are held at the market or village square.

In Benin kingdom, matters that concerns the entire kingdom that demands the attention of His Royal Majesty, the Oba, are usually decided at the Oba palace, with the Oba presiding. Those of the various Dukedoms are held either at the palace of the Odionwere or at the Oguedion (The central gathering/meeting place of the community). The conveyance of these meetings is done by the town crier.

He goes to strategic locations within the community with a gong/bell. At intervals he stops and beat the gong/bell to secure the attention of the people and then relate the relevant information to the people. He does not only inform the people of the meeting, he also relates information, decisions or communiqué of the meetings to the generality of the people.

No matter how highly placed you are in the community, once you hear the gong beat of the town crier you must drop whatever you are doing to listen to him or get posted with what is happening or about to happen. The beating of the gong is dictated by the kind of information to be passed across. These signs or signals are known to members of the community, so a visitor may not easily decode this.

For instance, information of death of any notable person in the community may require the town crier to beat the gong seven times. The continued beating of the gong will immediately send a signal of death to the people and so have to wait eagerly to know who has joined his ancestors and from which quarter/family. In case of an emergency, the town crier also has a way of attracting the people’s attention with the sound of his gong.

The town crier is usually part of every meeting and relate the decisions of such meetings to the general public that is why I describe him as a Public Relations Officer in traditional African society. Sometimes, he can be sent to release the ruler’s decisions to another village or community. In some communities, he is a chief, in others he may be part of the recognized age-grade.

Apart from informing the people of meetings and venues of such meetings, the town crier also normally announce the arrival of the village/clan head. This he does by beating his gong. However, I want to state that the chief instrument of attracting the people’s attention varies from a village/community to the other.

In Igbo society, the town crier uses a customized flute like the beagle used by the military. It is capable of producing different sounds or rhythm. The town crier in Igbo land is called Oti-ekive. In Ora land, he is called Otio-obe. In Benin, he is called No’yawewe while in Yoruba, he is called Akede. In Esan, he is called Okhue-Ibu.