Nollywood: Censor Films With Ritual Content, FG Tells NFVCB

By Uche Mbah

The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, Monday, directed filmmakers to avoid money ritual contents in their movies.

There are recent reports of young Nigerians commiting various kinds of atrocities, including eating fecal matter, ritual murder and other bizarre activities in their quest for quick money.

In a chat with the Media during his visit to Media Organisations in Abuja, Mohammed said some of the misguided boys confessed they learnt of what they do from the social media.

According to him, this gives a fillip to government efforts to sanitize the Social Media.

“Many have also blamed Nollywood for featuring money rituals in some of its movies, saying this has negatively influenced the vulnerable youth.

To mitigate this, I have directed the National Film and Video Censors Board, the body set up to regulate the film and video industry in Nigeria, to take this issue into consideration while performing its role of censoring and classifying films and videos”, he said.

In an earlier reaction to questions, he said he had directed the Nigeria Film and Video Censors Board, NFVCB, “to engage with stakeholders in the film industry in order to express the concerns of the government and Nigerians on the need to eschew money ritual content in their movies.

“For those who may still be in doubt, ritual killings have assumed a worrisome dimension in recent years…Recently, in Ogun State, four young men, one of whom is 18 years old, murdered their 20-year-old female friend for money rituals.

“Of course, you are also aware of a case involving a female student of the University of Jos who was allegedly killed by her boyfriend for ritual purposes. These killings have been widely reported by the media.

“The fact that some of these ritualists said they learnt the money-making tricks from some social media platforms has given a further fillip to our campaign to rid social media of unwholesome content.”

But in a recent viral video, a Nollywood actor, Kanayo O. Kanayi, denied that the Movie industry is responsible for the proliferation of ritual murders by youths.

Kanayo is popular for his roles in movies involving ritual money, mostly as the” grandmaster”.

But he said movies mirror the society , as art imitates life. According to him, if society changes, the video focus will change .