NFVCB Charges Nollywood Stakeholders to Avoid Scenes Depicting Smoking, Money Rituals
Stakeholders in the Nollywood industry has been tasked by the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) on Tuesday with making sure that movies and music videos, among other things, do not depict or glorify dangerous things like smoking tobacco, criminal activity, ritual killings, or money rituals.
The Executive Director of NFVCB, Dr. Shaibu Husseini gave the charge at the National Stakeholders’ Engagement on Smoke-Free Nollywood held in Enugu.
He commended the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) for putting up the event as part of its corporate social responsibility in Nigeria’s creative industry.
He said that the film industry occupies a central position in the entertainment and creative sector, adding that “it is imperative that we continue to place the highest premium on the progress of the film industry.”
Husseini noted that “we are facing an industry emergency requiring bold and ambitious actions from all parents, guardians and stakeholders.”
He invited the public and private sector participants “to see the gathering as an important platform to forge strategic partnership in order to mobilise scarce funding and create innovative models to assist in educating/sensitizing mothers, youth and the general public to combat the hydra-headed menace in the form of unapproved and unclassified content.”
Earlier in a remark, the executive Director of CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi had stressed the need for stakeholders to work towards a Smoke-Free Nollywood.
Oluwefemi stated that “we are at a point where we must stop the globalisation of smoking and instead promote a healthy lifestyle.
“There is a need to reverse the role movies and music videos play in painting smoking and tobacco use as a cool way of life.”
He revealed that studies had shown that smoking remained prevalent in Nigerian movies in contravention of the NTC-Act and the Tobacco Control Regulations 2019, which explicitly prohibited tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorships in movies and entertainment.
The CAPPA boss commended the Executive Director of the National Film and Video Censors Board, Dr. Husseini, for taking the bold step to dialogue with stakeholders in the industry towards a Nigerian screen free of unhealthy promotion of smoking tobacco.
