Porn Movies Remain Banned – National Film and Video Censors Board

The acting Director-General, National Film and Video Censors Board, Patricia Paulina Bala, has said that her agency is aware that pornographic movies are finding their way into the Nigerian movie market. She stated that the board was already taking actions on the development.

The agency boss said, “We are very much aware that pornography is creeping into our industry. We don’t approve pornography so any pornographic film you see in the market is illegal. It is an uncensored and unapproved movie. We have a department that goes out to monitor the market so any unapproved film, particularly pornographic films are usually picked up. They go out there with enforcement agents like policemen because in going to raid shops, you would need protection. They cannot go on their own so they go with the policemen to pick them up.

“Because it is an underground thing, it keeps coming up but we are also trying to trace the sources where they are coming from. We have got information that most of these things are being recorded from the Internet because they have pornographic sites. We have been in touch; we have been trying to get to the people who operate the sites. We have gone to NBC, they replied us last week that they don’t regulate content on the Internet.

“We know these things but we don’t go out to make a noise about it because the minute we do, they hide. So we have to be very discreet with the way we go about it.”

The movie censors board, which held a meeting to discuss distribution and licensing fees, stated that it was in their duty to do so and also inspect premises before licences are given out.

“One of the functions of the board is to license distributors and premises that would be used for the exhibition of films. We also license exhibitors that do the film business. Due to this, we had to design a framework because that empowers us to structure the distribution channel so we had to design a framework so that people can fit in according to their financial strength.

“We had to structure it that way which we did and some people are licensing and registering with us to distribute films. They can be distributors or exhibitors but we must also inspect their premises and approve that,” the acting DG said.

Punch