Stakeholders in the Nigerian film industry have appealed to the Federal Government not to wind down the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) as it begins implementation of the Oronsaye Report.
The filmmakers, who appealed in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja, said NFVCB should be retained as the regulatory agency for the motion picture industry.
According to them, any alteration on the current status of the board, in the form of a merger or subsuming, will be counterproductive and impede contributions the industry is making to the national economy. Veteran filmmaker, Paul Apel-Papel, said Nollywood was too large to be without a specific agency like the NFVCB to regulate its affairs.
According to the Colorado Film School-trained filmmaker, acclaimed for directing the 2021 war action drama film “Eagle Wings”, is playing a critical role in ensuring that Nollywood keeps its sanity.
“We are not in support of subsuming or merger because we are even looking forward to a specific ministry that will focus on Nollywood properly as we grow from here.
“The Federal Government should think of how it can actually make a specific focus on Nollywood the way it is doing for agriculture because after agriculture, the industry is the largest employer of labour.
“We are bringing revenue; we are creating jobs and we are positively promoting the image of the country globally.
“Nollywood is not getting any direct support; everybody is trying to develop their craft and then the only agency we have they want to take it back to the ministry and kill it,” he said.
Habib Mohammed, National President, of the Motion Picture Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MOPPAN), said it was not possible for such a regulatory body in a critical sector to function effectively as a department.
“The move to subsume the board as part of the ministry will be a real setback to the development already achieved.
“Let us not forget that the board was in the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture as a department, and the creation of the board has developed the industry to where it is today.
“Let the policymakers have a rethink and we are also calling on the National Assembly to stand on its feet for the board to keep its statutory position,” he added.
Emeke Aduah, acting President of the Film Video Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria (FVPMAN), said the influx of illicit films in the Nigerian market was a menace to the industry that NFVCB was fighting headlong.
According to him, winding down the board will impede the momentum of the fight against illicit films and that will be very dangerous to the acclaimed second-largest film industry in the world.
“I don’t think it is necessary for such scrapping because it is going to bring Nollywood backwards, because will make the industry becomes like a child without parents or guardians.
“Then at the end of the day, the industry will become a dumping ground for all kinds of films and it will become a merry-go-round for piracy, while genuine investors lose their investments.
“I wonder the kind of industry we will have left at the end of the day if the NFVCB is wind down,” he stated.
NAN reports that George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), recently directed Hannatu Musawa, Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, to begin the immediate dissolution of NFVCB. The directive aimed to subsume NFVCB as a department within the ministry but bypassed the legal process required to repeal the law establishing the Nollywood regulatory agency.
The development has however sparked reactions from stakeholders across the country. The Nigerian Senate had also asked the Federal Government to halt the winding down of the board, citing a breach of the law. It said the process of winding down an agency of government which came into force through an Act of Parliament should commence with the repeal of the act establishing it.
NAN also reports that NFVCB is a regulatory body set up by Act No.85 of 1993(now the National Film and Video Censors Board Act Cap No.40 (2004 as amended).
The board is empowered by law to regulate the film and video industry in Nigeria and classify all films and videos, whether imported or produced locally. The board also must register all films and video outlets/cinemas across the country and keep a register of such outlets/cinemas among other functions.
