The National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) and some non-governmental organisations have agreed to continue their collaboration to reduce the effects of tobacco and other harmful products towards achieving a ‘SmokefreeNollywood’.
The Executive Director of the Board, Dr Shaibu Husseini, stated this after a combined team from the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTAC) and the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation, led by Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi, visited him in his office in Abuja.
Husseini commended the efforts of the NGOs, and reaffirmed the Board’s commitment to continue to collaborate with them. He reassured them the Board is ready to collaborate with them to address the harmful influence of the tobacco industry in films.
Oluwafemi, who is also the chairman of NTCA, thanked the new Executive Director, and assured him of their willingness to take the advocacy with the Board for a ‘SmokefreeNollywood’ to another level to the benefit of the entertainment sector.
He noted that the Tobacco Industry has a firm grip of the Film Industry. The NTCA helmsman regretted that the tobacco industry considers the entertainment sector as a valuable space to market tobacco products, which is in total disregard to existing ban on Tobacco Advertising Promotion and Sponsorships (TAPS). Accordingly, he declared, “many countries are making their film industry smoke-free to save the future generation.” He appealed to the executive director to ensure that where there is need for smoking scenes, there should be a health-warning inscription as stipulated by law.
Husseini, in his response, restated that the board is open to collaborations to reposition the film industry. He averred that the board, under his watch, is ready for collaboration with NGOs. He restated the Board’s commitment to ensuring that the sensibilities of the citizens are not abused through the indiscriminate use of tobacco and glamorization of tobacco products in films. His words, “we are here to create an enabling environment and ensure the sensibilities of our citizens are not abused.”
The NCFVB boss solicited support of NGOs to set up Producers cum Scriptwriters’ laboratories to mitigate some of these challenges as part of the celebrations to mark 30 years of the creation of the board sometime this year.
Husseini also harped on the importance of logistics to sustain one of the board’s flagship programmes, Media Literacy Campaign. This, he noted, is crucial in view of plans by the board to move from censorship to classification. Media Literacy Programme, he explained, is used by the board to interface with the public on responsible film viewing.
