STAKEHOLDERS BACK NFVCB ON REGULATION TO CONTROL PROMOTION, GLAMORIZATION OF TOBACCO, RITUAL KILLING IN FILMS
Stakeholders in the entertainment industry have thrown their weight behind the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) in its bid to regulate the promotion and glamorization of tobacco and nicotine products in movies, musical videos, and skits. This move is in line with the Board’s Regulations 2024 and global best practices.
At a recent stakeholders’ engagement on Smoke-Free Nollywood, the industry professionals agreed to join the global effort to deemphasize smoking in movies. The event, organized by the NFVCB and the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), aimed to address the emergency that has become the promotion, subtle advertising and glamourisation of tobacco and nicotine product in Nollywood movies.
The Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the NFVCB, Dr. Shaibu Hussieni emphasized the need for ambitious actions from all stakeholders to protect young people from harmful content. He noted that the Board, in collaboration with CAPPA, has developed a subsidiary regulation to cater to smoking in movies, as this aspect was not explicitly addressed in the extant law.
Industry leaders, including the National President of the Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Ambassador Dr. Queen Blessing Ebigieson and the President of the Federation of Heads of Nollywood Guilds and Associations (FRENGAN), Dr. Victor Okhai commended the NFVCB for its efforts to reposition the industry. They emphasized the need for responsible storytelling and the importance of not promoting harmful practices, such as smoking and ritual killing, in movies.
Other industry professionals, including Ugezu Ugezu, Rob Emeka Eze, and Dr. Ahmad Sarari also expressed support for the NFVCB’s initiative. They clarified that the Board did not ban smoking in films but rather sought to sensitize filmmakers on the issue and encourage responsible storytelling.
Specifically, Ebigieson, stated “The smoke-free Nollywood program which was held on the 21st of May 2024 at the Nike Lake Resort Hotel Enugu State, was indeed a welcome development and a successful program as all stakeholders including myself present at the program, unanimously agreed that it was necessary for Nollywood movies to include health warnings and NFVCB classification symbols. This measure will protect our young ones who consume harmful content from streaming platforms”.
She described the workshop as very timely to address the glamorization of tobacco and nicotine products in movie scenes, which the NFVCB and CAPPA are sensitizing the industry practitioners in line with world best practices and in accordance with the law.
Ebigieson declared, “The Executive Director/ CEO, Dr Shaibu Husseini, has shown resilience, integrity, and purposeful leadership within two months in office. The Board has braced up to her regulatory oversight, and the industry is happy that Dr Shaibu Husseini is seriously hitting the ground running in all facets to reposition the industry”.
Okhai, who is also the President of the Directors Guild of Nigeria, (DGN) stated, “Decision on smoke-free Nollywood was consultative. The industry was well carried along and we are a responsible industry”. We felt it was our corporate social responsibility to the public to make sure they realized that cigarette is dangerous. After the robust engagements, we concluded, “we shall not be part of the influencers for the cigarette industry.” Speaking rhetorically, he said, “ how would you feel when you wake up one day and see your 10-year-old son smoking because he saw someone smoking on the screen”.
We also agreed there are exceptions. Even where there are exceptions, in our storytelling, we must show it is not right to portray smoking indiscriminately, and there are consequences for that as well. “I personally do not understand why the Executive Director is being criticized. He has always said that classification is the way to go and not censorship, ” he quipped.
Ugezu Ugezu, a notable filmmaker producer and director, says categorically that the NFVCB did not ban cigarette smoking in films. Everything is online now. For instance, you put your musical video and think it is playing all over the world, whereas it is not so because of smoking scenes. What the NFVCB is saying he clarified is “there are so many cigarette scenes in our movies that could have been avoided”
Rob Emeka Eze, Chief Executive Officer of Rainbow Cinema said “We are surprised by the headlines we are reading saying that the National Film and Video Censors Board has banned smoking in movies. I wonder whether it was still the same stakeholders meeting we attended or not. We gave all the details. Even when you are shooting a movie, and there is a smoking scene, you have to show the reason. You do not have to glamorize smoking in your movie as if you are encouraging it”.
According to Eze, who is also the owner of Nollymovies Entertainment Limited, “The NFVCB may not even bother itself. If you put your film on YouTube and the smoking scene is not relevant to the movie, YouTube will activate demonetization of that movie”.
Sarari, a former president of the Motion Picture Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MOPPAN), was full of commendations for the board. Stressing at no time did the board ban tobacco in our films. His words, “When I saw those headlines, I clarified to our fellow filmmakers from the North who enquired.
The Chief Executive Officer of Arise Films Motion Pictures, Chief Bolaji Ahmed Kuforji, stated that he was glad with the decision of the board to regulate the depiction of tobacco in movies. According to him, the NFVCB wants filmmakers to make amends on how to use cigarette and rituals in their movies. “According to him, the Board is stating what has become a global practice to indicate in a scene that tobacco smokers are liable to die young. The Board wants us to censor our movies ourselves, and that is very commendable.”
The stakeholders agreed that the NFVCB’s move was not intended to stifle creativity but to maintain international best practices and protect the well-being of young people. They encouraged the Board to replicate the advocacy engagement in all six geo-political zones of the country to ensure the message reaches all industry players.
OGBONNA ONWUMERE
DIRECTOR, CORPORATE AFFAIRS.
