The Executive Director of the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), Dr. Shaibu Husseini recently led Nollywood stakeholders to the 2024 edition of the Lagos International Film and Cinema Convention (LIFACC).
The session had several filmmakers and creatives including Ali Baba, Emeka Ossai, Mahmood Ali-Balogun, Joke Silva, Keppy Ekpeyong Bassey, Teco Benson, Corporate pictures boss, Alhaji Abdulrazaq Abdullahi, Francis Nwochie and several others.
Shaibu, at a session where NFVCB had a roundtable discussion with film producers, directors, and cinema exhibitors, took time to explain the works of the board while stressing that the board will not muscle the creative industry but will always ensure it upholds the mandate within the laws of Nigeria.
In the session, Shaibu stressed that the board has been working within the ambit of the Nigerian law and act that created the NFVCB.
“I am not in NFVCB to take filmmakers to court, please bring your films to us, we will classify them, we will rate them and we want to have a good relationship with our guilds and associations because these are the practitioners that keep us in the job”, Husseini said.
Continuing, Dr. Husseini said, “We are not saying people should not smoke but you warn your audience from the beginning of the film and do not endorse smoking in any way. We must protect society from what the laws of the land have prohibited.
“We will do our jobs as classifiers, we must express ourselves within the ambit of the law. We are open to learning, we are open to working with the industry, we don’t want to go to court or test the laws on any creativity”, he said.
He also analysed the skits which the NFVCB will classify and rate saying these are skits with theme, makeup, and other nitty-gritty of film.
“We need to safeguard our youths, if we rate a film, then let it be our job to educate children on what to watch and what not to watch.
“We should also moderate rituals in our films so that we do not preach to our youths that beheading or involving in rituals is the only way to wealth and success”, he said.
Dr. Shaibu also noted that some filmmakers get classification and rating and then go back to add scenes that the censors’ board didn’t see during classification and rating. He stressed that it is an offence and would not be tolerated by the board henceforth.
