Guardian Nigeria
The Executive Director of National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), Shaibu Husseini, has discredited reports alleging that he said the Federal Government had approved the “ban of smoking and ritual scenes” in Nigerian films.
Several news outfits reported that Husseini made the announcement at a national stakeholders’ engagement on smoke-free Nollywood in Enugu on Wednesday. The event, which was organised by the NFVCB and Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), attracted movie producers, directors, and actors drawn from different parts of the country. Several leaders of guilds and associations in the Nigerian film industry were present at the event where they all signed to support the smoke-free Nollywood campaign.
However, in a statement on Thursday released on social media, Husseini said, “I did not announce a ban on ‘smoking, or smoking, and ritual scenes in movies’ at the (southeast zone) stakeholders engagement on a healthy screen and the campaign to have a smoke free Nollywood, which held in Enugu. No, I did not.
What I mentioned in a speech that has been roundly shared is the existence of a regulation (NFVCB Regulations 2024) that in line with global best practices prohibits the Promotion and glamourisation of Money Ritual, Ritual Killing, Tobacco, Tobacco product, nicotine products in movies, musical videos and skits. The regulation aims at discouraging the ‘unnecessary’ depiction, promotion, advertisement, or glamourisation of tobacco or nicotine products in movies, musical videos, and skits. According to the NFVCB boss, “the regulation demands the display of a health warning for necessary smoking scenes that are required for historical accuracy, or for educational purposes, and to depict a negative lifestyle in movies, musical videos, and skits. The required health warning shall be displayed at the commencement of the work, during the scene, and at the end.”
Husseini assured that the NFVCB would not implement any policy that will muzzle creativity. He also clarified: “Any movie, skit, or musical video that displays or depicts tobacco or nicotine products, brands, or use that is necessary to the realization of a narrative shall be given the appropriate classification (rating) and shall not be shown to persons below the age of 18.”
