Nollywood Delirium On Rituals, Smoking, and Obscene Conduct

In what seems to be a decision received with mixed emotions, the Federal Government, on May 23, 2024, placed a ban on scenes that showcase money rituals, smoking, spraying of money, crime, and other obscene conduct in Nollywood films, music videos, and skits. According to reports, the decision was taken as a means of sanitizing the Nigerian society that has been greatly corrupted by social vices. Such obscene scenes glamorize habits that are meant to be abhorred.

The decision was allegedly given the stamp of approval by Shaibu Husseini, the executive director of the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) at a national stakeholder engagement on smoke-free Nollywood in Enugu State. It has also been approved by Emeka Rollas, the National President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), who described the decision on social media as a “welcome development.”

TNR reached out to Husseini for his take on the alleged ban and he stated that contrary to media circulations, he didn’t pronounce a ban on smoking and ritual scenes in movies. As he had reiterated on his social media handles, what he mentioned was the existence of a Directive (NFVCB Regulations 2024) that prohibited the promotion and glamorization of money rituals, ritual killing, tobacco, tobacco products, and nicotine products in movies, musical videos, and skits.

Asked for the exact wordings of the regulation, Husseini informed TNR that “The regulation will be available for circulation and will also be on our website as soon as we get it back from the Ministry of Justice.”

When questioned if this Regulation stifles creativity, the executive director of the National Film and Video Censors Board said, “It is not aimed to muzzle creativity. It’s about a healthy screen and creators should take responsibility for the content they produce for children and young people. No one said you shouldn’t create; if you have ‘necessary’ tobacco, narcotics, ritual killing, and money ritual depiction that are essential for historical accuracy, educational purposes, or to correct negative lifestyles, put the required warning(s) before, during the scene(s) or at the end of the movie, skit or musical video, as required in other climes.”

In a similar sentiment, Nigerian actor, writer, and theatre director Bimbo Manuel explained that the Regulation was long overdue. “This policy has always been in the book and is not a monstrous creation of Dr Shaibu Husseini. His announcement, in my view, was just to remind everyone.”

Manuel also divulged an interesting detail that seemed to have been missed by the general public. The NFVCB Regulation has been in force “since or about 2019 and has been obeyed by all.”

However, Husseini did not concur with Manuel’s above stated position vis-à-vis the 2019 law when TNR reached out to him. According to him, “The 2019 regulation is the National Tobacco Control Act. The main act that prohibits Tobacco, narcotics promotion and glamorization including a ban on tobacco advertising.” In other words, the 2019 directive was not specifically addressed to Nollywood.

It seems like the intention of the Regulation and the majority of the stakeholders in Nollywood is to be a global practitioner of best practices that condemn the glamorization of smoking, money rituals, and other vices.

The spraying of naira notes has been classified as an “obscene conduct” banned by the NFVCB. This is in line with Section 21(3) of the CBN Act of 2007 which outrightly prohibits the spraying of the Naira at social occasions, with a penalty of “a term not less than six months or to a fine not less than #50,000 or both such fine and imprisonment” for defaulters.

To show its seriousness, the Federal Government began clamping down on individuals caught in the act. A notable personality arrested was socialite and crossdresser Bobrisky who was sentenced to six months in prison for his involvement in the prohibited act.

What effect does this ban have on the popular owambe scenes we’ve grown to love in Nollywood films? Well, most likely films like “The Wedding Party” will no longer be produced. Even if they’re considered, filmmakers would dutifully remove scenes that portray the spraying of naira notes so as not to “devalue or deface the Naira.”

One can’t help but compare the Nollywood film industry with the international film industry, especially Hollywood. In action and, sometimes thriller films, filmmakers make dollars literally rain from the sky via planes and helicopters, yet there has been no complaint of the devaluing or defacing of the dollar by the U.S. authorities.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, “Using United States currency on camera is perfectly legal.” Acknowledging the significant role of the American currency in Hollywood, the bank said: “Movie plots often circulate around money. Characters fight for it, die for it, steal it, counterfeit it, burn it—you name it.”

Consequently, on the issue of the U.S. currency starring role in films, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco said: “Unless [filmmakers] can get away with fake straps, where only the first and the last bills are real, and the rest of the strap is filled blank notes, or “fillers,” … [o]ftentimes, they’ll turn to prop houses for a wealth of movie money, or prop money. To distinguish it from legitimate currency, prop money is marked with the words, “Motion Picture Use Only” or “Copy” and must follow specific rules,” as enumerated in the Counterfeit Detection Act of 1992.

This act, “made illegal any replication and use of replicated currency for commercial reasons. Color reproductions can be made and displayed as long as the illustration is one-sided and 75 percent smaller or 150 percent larger than the original note. All reproductions and materials used to create them, such as plates, negatives, and digital files, must be destroyed after final use. Fakes that don’t adhere to these rules are illegal.” The import of this provision is that the U.S. government recognizes the role the green back plays in movies, which dramatizes the multifarious ways in which society employs the dollar in their everyday use.

The NFVCB has no qualms with the use of prop money. “Use of Prop movie money is not new in Nollywood. It’s as old as the industry. I doubt if any card-carrying member of the Creative Designers Guild of Nigeria does not have a stack of prop Naira notes,” the executive director of the National Film and Video Censors Board stated.

Husseini seems to think that the uproar that greeted his pronouncement, in certain quarters, reflects a misunderstanding of the regulation.

“The regulation is not about the use of money in films, whether prop or real. It is about how money ritual and ritual killing is graphically depicted and glamorized as if it is a way of life. In some cases, they cut off someone’s head in a ritual themed movie, and out of the head comes wad of notes that fill a room.”

Spraying of money is an integral part of the Nigerian culture, and is practiced at social gatherings like weddings, birthdays, and parties. This is an element that fascinates the west about the Nigerian culture.

In a BBC report published last month, one guest at a recent wedding in the northern Nigerian city of Kano told the BBC, “I can’t imagine attending an event and not spraying money. It will look as if you don’t appreciate and love those celebrating.”

Three years ago, BusinessDay Nigeria attributed to King Sunny Ade what appeared to be an acerbic comment, which seems to condemn what the Federal Government of Nigeria considers the abuse of the Naira. “Ace juju musician, King Sunny Ade, has made it clear that currency splashing is a cultural and traditional pre-set inherent in every African demeanor,” the newspaper reported.

Occasioned by a press conference in Lagos, BusinessDay said “the respected entertainer explained how older generations sprayed cowries during traditional events and how this attitude had become part and parcel of the African man.” Consequently, the publication said, “To him, money spraying has come to stay, and anyone who does not like it should better close his eyes.”

An outright ban on the colorful usage of the Nigerian currency on set could be considered an overreach with attendant negative effects on the Nigerian society. Founder and CEO of IBST Limited, Remi Ogunpitan, whilst analyzing the pros and cons of what might amount to a censorship, highlighted what he considers the effect of limiting “filmmakers’ ability to portray authentic stories, leading to a sanitized version of reality.” According to him, “This can result in a skewed or inaccurate portrayal of Nigerian life, omitting critical issues and challenges that need to be addressed.”

If audiences are fed the diluted version of the happenings in the Nigerian society and the lifestyle of the Nigerian people, movie goers may feel disconnected from filmic narratives, and this reality will defeat one of the main purposes of filmmaking. Film as art is expected to cover “a wide range of human endeavor that it is almost more an attitude than an activity,” according to James Monaco.

If art is a tool, then those with the power to determine how its purpose and its effectiveness in the Nigerian society should ponder on Monaco’s words because art is “useful to describe the universe and our place in it.” In essence, through art, “we can discover the roots of contemporary cultural and scientific categories” and art has the “power to explain the structure of society to us.”

TNR took the liberty of asking film lovers what they think of the NFVCB Regulation and what its impact on the creativity of filmmakers would be.

For Ebenezer Afariogun, “The government is limiting ways in which art can be produced. Art is meant to imitate real-life issues. If films cannot portray the Nigerian reality, they will lose their originality.”

Oluwaseyi Ajayi concurs. “The Regulation seems to be blind to the happening in the Nigerian society. The acts that it is banning are a mirror representation of our reality. Hollywood films and music videos portray vices like robberies and bank heists, albeit with censorship. Why should we then have an outright ban? Let’s stop deceiving ourselves in this country.”

Moyosoreoluwa Oderinde opines, “Some of the best films (international and local) have revolved around the portrayal of the vices the government is now banning via the Regulation. How can filmmakers make a proper traditional film without the element of rituals? Aren’t rituals an integral part of the Nigerian culture?

The NFVCB may have forgotten the didactic nature of Nollywood films. In old Nollywood, a film that portrays money rituals, for example, aims to deter people from the abominable course. Those who engage in rituals are depicted to never have a good lot in life. They reap the consequences of their actions.

Another food for thought: Do films have as much of an impact on the society today? Or is the NFVCB and Federal Government reaching heights to secure another motive? “Fiction doesn’t seem to have as much of a profound effect. The cultism period in the 1980s is living proof of that. What films were the adults watching then that made them engage in cultism and other nefarious activities? They were induced by societal indices, not fiction,” Oderinde further asserts.

An advice for filmmakers is put forward by Timilehin Ibrahim.

“I don’t think the ban hinders creativity because a huge part of being a creative is thinking outside the box and finding new ways to get your message across.”

The current equivocation that permeates the Nigerian landscape, which the recent pronouncement triggered, will no doubt become eliminated when the exact words of the regulation is made public. Thus, if the purpose of the new regulation is to stymie banal and unlikely social practice, then filmmakers should embrace the new film culture that the Nigerian government through agencies like the NFVCB is advocating.

A call for a better dramatization of the Nigerian reality through the use of a film language that is more realistic should not be regarded as a burden, especially in the 21^st century.

Editor’s Note: TNR reached out to Emeka Rollas for his comments, but as of the publication of this article, there was no response.