NIGERIA-Cinema: Government Clamp Down on Blue Movies

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Feb 25 1997 (IPS) - The government has stepped in to try and stem the rising tide of pornographic movies flooding Nigeria through so- called “video clubs” that have mushroomed in major cities.

Minister of Information and Culture, Walter Ofonagoro, says the federal government is clamping down on dealers in pornographic and extremely violent films. “We will raid all the stores wherever they are and their owners will be arrested arrested since violence has become part of the culture of our people,”he said.

Ofanagoro said the new campaign was necessary to protect the nation’s youth – as the violence and pornoghraphy depicted in imported films had a negative effect on society. The minister’s announcement is the latest attempt by the government to control the large quantities of videos available everywhere in Nigeria – even from roadside hawkers.

If anyone wanting to see these films lacks his own Tv and cassete player, he can always join a “video club” for a small fee. At on such establishment in Egbe, a suburb of Lagos, members gather twice a week to watch eritic films shown on a TV perched on a raised podium in the dimly-lit room.

According to Biola Kareem, manager of the club, interest in pornographic movies has soared recently with both adults and teenagers borrowing them: “Some members borrow more blue films from here especially at weekends. They say, however, that they watch the videos while the children are asleep.”

Few of these outlets of pornographic films are registered with the National Film and Video Censors Board, which controls screening of films and videos in public places.

Before the boom in the video industry early this decade, committees comprising representatives of the police, the state security service, the ministry of information and culture as well as religious leaders, previewed films before allowing their sale to the public.

According to the National Film and Video Censors Board decree 85 of 1993, a film or video produced locally or imported must be submitted to the Board for registration, previewing and examination prior to its categorisation for public supply, distribution or exhibition.

The decree does not ban film or videos that depicts sexual activities or are associated with acts of violence. “What the board frowns at is showing such pornographic and uncensored video or items classified as adult films in a public environment in the presence of underaged children,” a Board member told IPS.

When a film classified “for restricted exhibition” is shown on registered premises where a person under 18 years old is present, the exhibitor is liable to a fine of 1,000 naira (about 12.5 U.S. dollars). In addition, any person who fails to reproduce a certificate of approval from the board before exhibiting a film, is liable to pay a fine of 5,000 naira (about 62.5 dollars).

But the Censorship Board has difficulty in combatting the spread of pornography through the unlicensed “Clubs” as the decree allows for the exhibition of some violent or pornographic videos provided it is not for commercial purposes or to teenagers.

“There are exemptions. Individuals have a right to watch whatever they want in their private homes. Clubs can screen pornographic films for a restricted audience as therapy or psychological treatment for some groups of people,” a Board member said.

For Victor Asaolu, national co-ordinator of the professionals and industrialists theatre arts practitioners council of Nigeria (PITAPN) welcomed the baleted government move in the issue.

“It is heart-warming that the government has finally decided to take the bull by the horn especially as it affects the film and video industry,” he said.

Asaolu called for the active involvement of professional theatre practitioners in the control of videos and films showed to the public.

“Foreign films should as a matter of necessity pass through professional associations like ours before being screened at all but this is not the case now,” Asaolu said, “There is need to discourage people from producing films or showing them to the public without first receiving the approval of professional associations like ours because what the censors board is looking for in a film is different from what we professionals look for in a good film.

“Pornographic films are not welcome and their importation should be stopped. Our culture does not permit blue films. Those who perform in blue films are no actors but prostitutes who are under some influence,” Asaolu said.

The decree setting up the national film and video censorship board, however, does not permit active film makers or video producers to be members of the Board as they might biased in favour of their own output.