National Film and Video Censors Board

By Usama Abdullahi

It’s highly frustrating that music is swiftly dominating Nigeria. So many people, especially teenagers, consider and consume music much more than anything. Despite their indecency and vulgarity in most videos, the youths see the musicians and actors as role models. 

One hardly watches a music video that’s free of impurity or indecency. Unfortunately, this is not seen only in the music industry, but it has become the norm in the entertainment industry. Take, for instance, Nollywood. Unsurprisingly, the movies they release every year are mostly not good for the sanity of Nigerian adults, let alone children.

Yet children sit comfortably to watch this with their parents – their so-called responsible parents. The comedy skits are much worse. Women who get featured in those comedy skits are usually inelegant vixens. They derive joy in flashing their nudities before the audience. And the audiences are often vulnerable kids. They are kids who barely think independently, so they learn whatsoever they see. 

What’s more disgusting is the vulgar languages in these skits and movies are not being filtered or edited by the supposed editors. This is proof of willful neglect of the future of young adults. But who do we blame for this? The blame lies with the supposed editors, reckless actors, irresponsible parents, vulnerable children, or the entertainment industry for its fatal disregard for prevailing indecency. I won’t fault anyone for this because society at large is undoubtedly blamable.

I’m writing this because I’m also a victim. I watch some comedy shows when I feel bored sometimes. But what I used to watch in the past few years is quite different from what I watch today. There’s an unfortunate compromise in our entertainment industry. Some contents are not merely nasty, but they are rather invective. The actors use swearwords and vulgar language excessively. For this reason, watching it diminishes the good morals that parents have infused in their children. 

We can see that moral decadence in children’s increasing disrespect and utter preferences for filthy films other than films with educative content. They imitate what they see in these movies, hence the overwhelming rate of juvenile crimes. And they are too quick to download newly released songs or films, but they fail to install PDFs for free books. Moreover, they can mime words from multiple songs, yet they barely memorise a single line from their books. This is why there’s a continuous decline in the education sector.

It didn’t surprise me when I heard a seven-year-old lad miming “Coming”, a song by Naira Marley featuring Busiswa. I can’t deny his talent for miming, but, given his age, the thing is, the song is grossly inappropriate for his hearing. That is it! Arguably, there are a lot of children who have mastered numerous songs. But, you know what, this mere mobile phone has flawed the reputation of many children and corrupted their behaviours.

Do you find it hard to believe me? Please, do create a time of your own and glimpse through TikTok. I bet you can’t believe what your eyes would see. The most important question is, how do we build a better future for the upcoming or unborn generations? With all these “unavoidable” indecencies, can we actualise this vision? 

Although the damages seem too much, still we can lessen it through the help of the National Film and Video Censor Board (NFVCB). Therefore, let’s appeal to the NFVCB to double their effort in seeing that songs with foul lyrics, X-rated movies, video clips and comedies are filtered or banned entirely from cinemas or social media.

Usama Abdullahi wrote from Abuja, Nigeria. He can be reached via usamagayyi@gmail.com

By Habibu Maaruf Abdu

Since the middle of the previous week, the trending news on Kannywood has been revolving around a racy film entitled Makaranta. The Kano censorship board declares the film’s director Aminu Nasara wanted for releasing the uncensored film trailer, which embodies obscene content.

The trailer starts with a school setting, and a female voice is heard talking about jima’i (‘sex’) crudely without euphemism. Two female students are then shown conversing in a classroom where one of them advises the other in a vulgar dialogue as follows:

“Banda tsabar sakaci da dolanci kawai kina zaune har ya buɗe jaka ya ɗauki bireziya baki sani ba. Idan kikai wasa da wannan dolancin kina sakin baki wataran sai ya cire miki pant…”

“If not for sheer foolishness, why would you just sit there while he opened a bag and took the bra without you knowing. Unless you are careful, he would, one day, take your panties off…”

The aforementioned are just a few of the many vulgarities in the trailer. So, if the two-minute-long trailer alone is this bad, how do you expect the complete film to be? Males and females are even shown touching one another and licentiously dancing in some scenes!

No doubt, such despicable movies are a threat to the well-being of our society. They can negatively influence viewers, especially the young generation, and dent our beautiful reputation as the Hausa Muslim populace. A film is a reflection of the society where it’s produced. I, therefore, strongly condemn the immoral movie. Making such a film is insolent, and all those involved should be brought to book.

Although the film director is trying to dissociate it from the mainstream Kannywood, his claims are unacceptable because the film is mainly in the Hausa language. Moreover, many of its characters are portrayed as Hausa Muslims (We hear names like Luba, Saudat and Suwaiba). Our society, therefore, has every right to follow it up since it’s something which, they think, could tarnish their image. The director is thus subject to both public outrage and censors punishment. The National Film and Video Censors Board should collaborate with their Kano counterpart to ban this film and impose a total ban on all films of its kind.

I will conclude by commending the efforts of the Kano censorship board in sanitizing Kannywood. Moreover, I call on them to devise more extreme punishment in dealing with the perpetrators of immorality in the industry. This would serve as a deterrent to others.

Habibu Maaruf Abdu wrote via habibumaaruf11@gmail.com.