NFVCB Joins Hands With China To Boost Film Industry As Dismantling Looms

Nigeria and China have reached an agreement to strengthen film and cultural ties in a move facilitated by the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB).

The partnership, solidified during a meeting at the Chinese Embassy in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, saw NFVCB Executive Director Husseini Shaibu and the Director of the China Cultural Centre in Nigeria leading the discussions.

The regulatory body described the goal of the agreement as promoting “cultural exchanges and cooperation in film classification.”

As a body tasked with the regulation of the Video and film industry in Nigeria – a task that includes film classification – the push to peek into China’s classification protocols is significant.

The China Film Administration’s (CFA) success in quality control and market stability achieved through its strict quotas, may serve as a model for the NFVCB.

Although film classification is the locus of the partnership, the scope of the agreement also covers intellectual property protection and building on the foundations of the existing Nigeria-China relations.

This move is one in a series of foreign partnerships by the Federal Government in its commitment to explore new opportunities for its movie industry. In May, the Nigerian and Jamaican governments had a meeting of minds in the film and animation sector.

However, this agreement comes at a precarious time for the NFVCB, following the recent threat of dissolution that the regulatory body

Earlier in the month, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, in a move to implement recommendations of scrapping ministries by the Steve Oronsaye committee report, planned to dissolve the agency and subsume it into the Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy.

The Nigerian Senate rejected the move for lack of due process—only the National Assembly can dismantle an agency created by an Act of Parliament such as the NFCVB.

Stakeholders have also voiced their opposition, citing concerns over increased corruption and the proliferation of illicit content if the NFVCB is scrapped.

The coast is not clear for the NFVCB though as the government has expressed no intention to permanently quit its move. The recent with the Chinese Embassy seems to be, among other things, a statement by the regulatory body that it’s here to stay.