Nigeria to ban money rituals, smoking in Nollywood movies

Nigeria’s Federal Government has ordered filmmakers to take out money ritual content from their movies.

Information and Culture minister, Lai Mohammed who announced this on Monday during a media visit in Abuja said some of the suspected ritual killers claim they learnt the act of ritual killings on social media and this has prompted the Federal Government to sanitise the system.

“Many have also blamed Nollywood for featuring money rituals in some of its movies, saying this has negatively influenced the vulnerable youth. To mitigate this, I have directed the National Film and Video Censors Board, the body set up to regulate the film and video industry in Nigeria, to take this issue into consideration while performing its role of censoring and classifying films and videos.” the minister said

Even before this revelation, some Nigerians had in the past expressed the same opinion claiming that money rituals in Nollywood movies have influenced the youth negatively.

In addition to this, the minister has directed the NFVCB to engage with stakeholders in the film industry in order to express the concerns of the government and Nigerians on the need to eschew money ritual content in their movies.

Some Nigerians have reacted to this directive by welcoming the directive online.

The film censors’ board also recently announced a move to prohibit smoking in movies.

The board’s director, Adedayo Thomas revealed that the move follows evidence of the entertainment industry’s influence on tobacco use and the impact on public health.

Adedayo further revealed that the board will toughen awareness among film stakeholders as it moves to enforce the non- classification of Nollywood movies depicting the use of tobacco.