The Nigerian motion picture industry’s stakeholders have urged the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed to dissolve the 52-man board of National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) and replace it with a sizeable board for effective management.
Addressing a press conference in Lagos recently, the stakeholders comprising Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN), Film and Video Producers and Marketers Association (FVPMAN), and Yoruba Film and Video Producers and Marketers Association (YOVIFPMAN) had thrown their weights behind the embattled executive director of the Board, Alhaji Adedayo Thomas, also urging the Minister to investigate and bring to book all staff of the agency engaged in the writing of frivolous petitions against him.
In a statement read on their behalf, AMP president, Ralph Nwadike, said having assumed duty at the Censors Board about a year ago, Thomas had identified the numerous challenges facing the industry and immediately swung into action to confront them.
He stated: “However, the giant strides of the executive director particularly his consistent raid of Alaba International Market for pirated works, did not go down well with some people including some staff of the Censors Board who have been benefiting from the status quo.
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“These aggrieved staff of Censors Board were used to the corrupt regime of disbursing budgets for raids on paper, without any practical raid or effect on the film market. We must state and affirm that Alhaji Adedayo Thomas has proved to us that government agencies could positively affect the industry.
“We, therefore, call on the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed to investigate and bring to book all staff of the Board engaged in the writing of frivolous petitions against Adedayo Thomas. Such staff members have no reason to remain in the civil service. We may be forced to stop the censorship of movies if the ungodly politics of these civil servants remain unchecked.”
Among those present at the conference were Tunji Ojetola, vice president, YOFIVPMAN, Igwe Gab Okoye, film
marketer/distributor, Emeka Aduah, president, FVPMAN, Adewale Elesho, actor, Aina Kushoro, film marketer, and Norbert Ajaegbu, lawyer/film marketer.