Filmmakers Urge Jonathan to Halt Attempt to Downgrade Censors Board

Stakeholders in the film industry have sent a Save Our Soul message to President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan not to give his accent to attempt by some highly placed government officials to down-grade the National Film and Video Censors Board and make it a department in the Federal Ministry of Information.

The stakeholders who spoke in Lagos include representatives of the relevant guilds in Nigeria, Association of Movie Producer (AMP) Film and Video Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria (FVPMAN) and those of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN).

Spokesperson for the group, Chief Eddie Ugbomah, who is the first chairman of the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), said the development will spell doom for the film industry. According to him, the development would engender 36 film and video censors’ board across the federation with a corresponding hike in the total cost of film production.

He said that the attempt to down-grade the board to a department via a memo is not only illegal but counter-productive adding that the National Film and Video Censors Board was set up by an act of parliament and that it can only be down-graded if such an act is repealed.

He said that filmmakers will put up a spirited fight and that they are currently considering a legal action if the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim are determined to make good their threat.

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He said that though censorship is on concurrent list, there is no country in the world that harbors more than one censors board.

Also Speaking, Chairman, Film and Video Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Nobert Ajaegbu said the development will not augur well for practitioners, whom he said will now be made to pay to censor or exhibit their films in each of the 36 states.