Veteran actor Kanayo .O. Kanayo alongside music icon Mike Okri has frowned at the Federal Government’s recent approval of the prohibition of smoking and glamorizing of money rituals and killings in Nigerian films, skits and music videos, describing such development as ‘a joke.’
The government on Wednesday, through the Executive Director/CEO of the National Film and Video Censors Board, NFVCB, Dr. Shaibu Husseini approved the “Prohibition of Money Ritual, Ritual Killing, Tobacco, Tobacco Product, Nicotine Product Promotion, glamorization, display in movies, musical videos and skits” in pursuant to Section 65 of the NFVCB Act 2004.
NFVCA boss made this known, while speaking at a National Stakeholders Engagement on Smoke-Free Nollywood in partnership with Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, CAPPA, held in Enugu.
However, reacting to the development, veteran musician, Mike Okri described the action of the federal government as a joke, adding “it’s a way to silence the movie industry.”
“Whoever is behind this from the FG is joking. It’s a way to silence the movie industry. They should focus on the real challenges facing the country,” Okri snapped.
Also, reacting, popular actor Kanay .O. Kanayo described the move, as ‘a sensible nonsense/. He said that the Honourable Minister of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, Barrister Hannatu Musa Musawa has no job for approving a move to gag the film makers.
Husseini stated that the censors board has continued to place the highest premium on the progress of the film industry by ensuring that films/video works, musical videos and skits are free of depiction and glamorization of harmful substances like smoking of tobacco, violence, criminal acts, immoral acts, ritual killing and money ritual.
According to the NFVCB boss, “Today, we are facing an industry emergency requiring bold and ambitious actions from all of us as parents, guardians and stakeholders.”
He said after a series of engagements, the NFVCB in collaboration with the CAPPA decided to do a Subsidiary Regulations to cater for smoking in movies since this aspect was not expressly spelt out in the extant Law.