Nigerian agency to seize, burn unclassified, substandard movies

The Director-General, National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), Patricia Bala, said on Friday that the board was intensifying efforts to rid Nigerian markets of unclassified and substandard films.

Mr. Bala told the News Agency of Nigeria that unregistered distributors were responsible for the influx of inferior films into the markets.

“Our emphasis will be on monitoring and enforcement because we want to clear the markets of unwholesome films.

“There have been so many, and most of those who sell on unwholesome content are people who are not registered with us and they are always on the move.

“They don’t come out during the day time. It is when we have closed for the day they go under the bridges and begin to sell.

“They don’t stay there for 10 minutes. Once, they open their bags and start selling they pack it up and move again to another location.

“Of recent, we have been going round and picking up a lot of uncensored movies and we have penalised some of them. Very soon, we will be burning the movies that we seized,” Bala added.

On imported films with unpleasant storylines, the director-general said it was difficult checking such films

“Most times, what they do is that they bring in one or two copies and they claim it is for their personal use.

“So if they are buying for their own personal use, you cannot stop them from bringing them in.

“However, when they come in they now go and replicate and then push it into the markets and that is wrong.

“Even, if they bring it in and want to sell it, they are supposed to bring it to the board for classification, but they don’t do so. Because of that, we have to go to the markets, monitor them and then pick them (films) up from the markets.

“That is the way we make sure that films we have not approved are not sold in the markets.’’

She said the various security agencies in the country lent the board the necessary support in discharging its responsibilities regarding enforcement.

The director-general said the board would hand over those arrested for selling unclassified films to security agents for prosecution.

The Actors Guild of Nigeria had accused the NFVCB of inefficiency and asked President Goodluck Jonathan to disband the management of the agency.

(NAN)