NFVCB wants to classify Nollywood films, not censor

Dr Shaibu Husseini, Executive Director/ CEO of the board made the request when he paid a courtesy visit to the Managing Director of NAN, Mallam Ali Muhammad Ali on Wednesday in Abuja.

Husseini, who was accompanied by his management team, said NFVCB under his watch was carrying out landmark reforms in his operations to effectively deliver on its mandate in line with global best practice.

He said NAN was a crucial stakeholder of NFVCB because of its wide reach, as well as its credible and authoritative reportage of the nation’s creative sector.

“We want to partner with the news agency of Nigeria to get some of the information that we want to pass to every nook and cranny of the country.

“There is no doubt, if you want to get your news to the nooks and cranny of this country NAN is the right partner, so I thought it was important that we come here first.

“I thought that first place to go should be the primary source of news, and as far as I am concerned, the News Agency of Nigeria is the place to be.

“This is not just about working together, but also we are partners in progress in our effort to drive home President Bola Tinubu renewed hope agenda.

“Also, considering the way NAN operates, there is not a media out there that do not get news from NAN, so that is why we are here.

“I would like to thank you for giving us this opportunity to be here, as I have just assumed office in less than 10 days,” he said.

According to Husseini, NFVCB as a critical stakeholder in the nation’s creative sector, particularly the film industry, is expected to discharge its statutory functions in tandem with global best practices.

Husseini said that the board under its current leadership is initiating major reforms to ensure that it delivers more effectively on its statutory mandate. He said such reforms included complete digitisation of its operations, as well as efforts to rechristen the boards name for it to appropriately reflect its statutory functions.

“At the moment now, the board is moving from censorship to classification, because all over the world the idea is to actually allow some level of creativity to thrive.

“Censorship is actually a term used under the military regime, but we are going to try to move from there because globally it is known as classification board.

“However, we have a lot of media illiterates that we need to speed up their understanding for them to properly understand our classification symbols.

“This is why we need NAN to help us in our media literacy drive because Nigerians need to be conversant with our classification symbols and activities,” he stated.

Responding, the managing director of NAN assured Husseini and his team of the agency’s readiness to work closely work with NFVCB in promoting its activities and the nations motion picture industry.

Ali, who congratulated Husseini, said his appointment by President Tinubu to head the NFVCB was a clear manifestation of the president’s determination reposition the board.

“When you have a very competent captain who has paid his dues as performing artiste, a journalist, an administrator, with years of experience, you know that whatever turbulence there is, the ship will safely dock.

“We are deeply honoured to have you here, and like you rightly pointed out, NAN is the right partner you can work with because we are everywhere.

“So, congratulations and welcome once again to NAN, as we look forward to a very purposeful working relationship. he added.