The Minister of Information and Culture of Nigeria, Lai Mohammed, has disclosed that filmmakers in the country have been asked to avoid making money ritual content since most of the recent ritual killings for money were influenced by some Nollywood films.
Referring to some of the confessions of the ritual killers, who attributed their actions to what they watched in Nollywood movies and social media, Minister Lai Mohammed stated that the Federal Government is on a mission to regulate social media platforms and Nollywood.
“Many have blamed Nollywood for featuring money rituals in some of its movies, saying this has negatively influenced the vulnerable youth. To mitigate this, I have directed the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), the body set up to regulate the film and video industry in Nigeria, to take this issue into consideration while performing its role of censoring and classifying films and videos.
“I have also directed NFVCB to engage with stakeholders in the film industry in order to express the concerns of the government and Nigerians on the need to eschew money ritual content in their movies”.
Lai Mohammed
Further speaking on the issue, the Information Minister noted that ritual killings in Nigeria have assumed a worrisome dimension in recent years. Giving an example, he said: “Recently, in Ogun State, four young men, one of whom is 18 years old, murdered their 20-year-old female friend for money rituals”.
According to Lai, the fact that some of these ritualists disclosed that they learned the money-making tricks from some social media platforms, “has given a further fillip to our campaign to rid social media of unwholesome content”.
Also appealing to religious bodies, Minister Lai said: “The religious bodies should stop preaching only prosperity; you should be preaching morality more than the way you preach prosperity.
“Nollywood actors and the movie censors board have a lot to do to regulate the type of films they produce because some of them (ritual suspects) learn it in movies”.
Lai Mohammed
A Similar Call in Ghana
It can be recalled that in April last year, there was a similar call for action in Ghana following the gruesome murder of a 10-year-old boy by two suspected teenagers who disclosed that they did it for money rituals.
The sad incident that took place at Kasoa left many worried and angry after one of the suspects revealed to the Kasoa Police Command that a spiritualist, whom they discovered through national television agreed to assist them to become instant billionaires. The said spiritualist then demanded a human being part and a sum of ¢5,000 to make them rich.
Their confession triggered a movement on social media, #StopMoneyRitualsOnTv, demanding all forms of advertisement of money rituals on TV to be stopped.
That notwithstanding, the Chairman of the Classification Committee of the National Film Authority, Socrate Safo, also blamed the content of various television networks in Ghana for the murder of the 10-year-old by the two teenagers.
Socrate indicated that there are no controls in the Ghanaian media space which has become worrying. He urged television stations across the country to ensure sanity on their screens.
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