Guilds in the Nigerian film industry, aka Nollywood, have urged the federal government to retain the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) as it implements the Oronsaye Report.

The leaders of various guilds gave the advice in separate interviews on Sunday.

George Akume, secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), recently directed  Hannatu Musawa,  Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy,  to begin the immediate dissolution of NFVCB.

The directive aimed to subsume NFVCB as a department within the ministry but bypassed the legal process required to repeal the law establishing the Nollywood regulatory agency.

The development has, however, sparked reactions from stakeholders across the country. The Nigerian Senate had also asked the federal government to halt the winding down of the board, citing a breach of the law.

It said the process of winding down an agency of government that came into force through an act of parliament should commence with the repeal of the Act establishing it.

Nollywood guilds, which work directly with  NFVCB, have expressed displeasure over any policy that intend to either merge, subsume or scrap the regulatory agency.

According to them, any alteration on the board’s current status will impede progress the motion picture industry has made in the last three decades.

Victor Okhai, national president of the Directors Guild of Nigeria, said subsuming NFVCB into its supervising ministry would be counter-productive.

Mr Okhai, also the Federation of Nollywood Guilds and Associations chairman, said President Bola Tinubu already gave the masterstroke when he created the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy.

According to Okhai, subsuming the NFVCB into the ministry will only weaken the regulatory momentum required for Nigeria’s film industry. He said without such an agency of government in place, there would be an influx of illicit films from outside and within the Nigerian market, making the creative space unhealthy.

Blessing Ebigieson, national president of the Association of   Movie Producers (AMP), said having a stand-alone film classification agency was in line with global best practices for the motion picture industry.

She said those considering scrapping or subsuming for the board were inadvertently working to impede the film industry from contributing more to the national economy.

“Censors board is doing a lot to protect the country, to make sure that producers do not produce illicit movies that are detrimental to our children. Imagine if that board was not allowed to stand on its own all these years to protect the industry and the sensibilities of Nigerians. What would have happened by now,” she stated.

She added, “We have a lot of people who are making movies that need classification and then by the time you start merging it with other agencies or the ministry, that will bring politics into filmmaking.

“We as industry players are completely opposed to any move to scrap that board, because it is securing the sanity of our industry.” 

(NAN)