Oronsaye report: Nollywood guilds make case for NFVCB

Some guilds in the Nigerian film industry, popularly known as Nollywood, have appealed to the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government to retain the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB).

This follows the plan by the administration to implement the Oronsaye Report which agitates to subsume NFVCB as a department within the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy.

Recall that George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) had earlier sparked controversy when he directed the minister, Hannatu Musawa, to begin the immediate dissolution of NFVCB.

Reacting to the development, leaders of various guilds in the industry has thrown its weight behind the regulatory agency, appealing to the FG to retain NFVCB.

These stakeholders noted that in the last three decades, the agency has made tremendous improvement and any attempt to merge, subsume or scrap it will impede the progress.

Mr Victor Okhai, National President, Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN) said subsuming NFVCB into its supervising ministry would be counter-productive.

Okhai, who is also the Chairman, Federation of Nollywood Guilds and Associations, said that President Bola Tinubu already gave the masterstroke when he created the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy.

“I would like to quote what Vice President Kashim Shettima said when we had meeting with him, that Nollywood is an industry that is built entirely by the practitioners.

“He said it is time for government to support the industry, and we are saying if they want to support us they cannot just scrap the only regulatory agency that we have for Nollywood.

“In those days, the industry was known for foreign movies, but right now there is a whole industry with a value chain of over 250 jobs thriving in the 36 states at various degrees.

“If you now subsume it into the ministry, how many people have the strength to go to Abuja to have their films classified, but the censor board is in nearly all the states.

“There were about 18 Parastatals under the former Ministry of Information and Culture, and now that we have our ministry why scrap the only regulatory body under it,” he said.

According to Okhai, subsuming the NFVCB into the ministry will only weaken the regulatory momentum required for Nigeria’s film industry.

He said without such an agency of government in place, there would be an influx of illicit films both from outside and within the Nigerian market and would make the creative space unhealthy.

“As we practice, we are also mindful of the fact that there might be people who might be involved in sharp practices, so we have umbrella body for all pratictioners.

“One thing that our body has been able to help us do is that you cannot censor your movie unless you belong to an association and these associations submit their names willingly.

“NFVCB is the watchdog for the government so if we have issues with the government we go to our regulator, if the government have issues with us they go to the regulator too.

“So, I think it is in the best interest of the government to let it be, and they have over 400 staff, how would they dissolve them just like that?” he asked.

Blessing Ebigieson, National President, Association of Movie Producers (AMP), said having a stand-alone film classification agency was in line with global best practices for the motion picture industry.

She said those considering scrapping or subsuming for the board were inadvertently working to impede the film industry from contributing more to the national economy.

“Censors board is doing a lot to protect the country, to make sure that producers do not produce illicit movies that are detrimental to our children.

“Imagine if that board was not allowed to stand on its own all these years to protect the industry and the sensibilities of Nigerians what would have happened by now.

“We have a lot of people who are making movies that need classification and then by the time you start merging it with other agencies or the ministry that will bring politics into filmmaking.

“We as industry players are completely opposed to any move to scrap that board because it is securing the sanity of our industry,” she said.