Recently, the Nigeria Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) expressed concern over the display by some actors and actresses of behaviour that appear alien to the cultural traits of the different socio-cultural groups in the country. For instance, some of their contentious displays include smoking, indecent dressing, bearing of weapons, glorification of wealth through ritualkilling, celebration of material comfort earned through deceit, lottery and other unproductive and unsustainable means.

The NFVCB has expressed its readiness to collaborate with the different guilds in the movie industry to help stem the worrisome cultural drift. New Telegraph extends kudos to the NFVCB for its show of concern and we hope that the regulatory outfit will succeed in its cleansing mission that would help save Nigerians from being re-colonised in a subtle manner through cultural transmission via films. However, we are surprised at NFVCB’s rather belated realisation of its mandate.

The consequences of such perceived regulatory failure are not only negative but are of manifold proportions. Consciously or unconsciously, the county opens itself to a reasonable degree of cultural transmission from foreign countries, as has been illustrated by the pornographic, bloodletting and other forms of culturally offensive displays of some actors and actresses. Some Nigerians, especially youngsters who are in their formative years, gradually ape and assimilate the sociologically debased behavioural patterns of foreigners while regarding their highly-civilised cultural traits as inferior to those of the culture exporting nations.

Some Nigerians have imbibed negative cultural values which have created identity crises in them thereby making it difficult for them to reflect the rich cultural traits of their forefathers. Rather than draw strength from their cultural traits to operate, the opposite is the case for some Nigerians. It is usually difficult for such people to support the lawful conduct of activities in the different parts of the country since they appear culturally disconnected from the country of their birth. Unregulated cultural transmission would consciously or unconsciously cause some Nigerians to begin to develop strong preferences for foreign technologies and products, which often come at a higher cost even though they might be inferior.

Any country that glosses over cultural imperialism hauled at it is doomed and Nigeria cannot and should not take to such a trajectory. We implore the NFVCB to wake up from its perceived deep slumber and be alive to her constitutional responsibility. The Board should be mindful of the fact that she would not achieve meaningful results by approaching its crucial assignment from the reactive realm as is presently the case.

Why must the NFVCB wait until cultural transmission has developed deep roots in the country, before reaching out to the different guilds in the movie industry? While New Telegraph urges it to continuously engage the referred groups in the movie industry, the regulatory body should equally extend its collaboration to the scholars of theatre/ creature arts, sociology, history and philosophy for a rigorous pre- and post-recording cultural audit. Movies which have been found to have culturally- offensive portrayals should be seized while the Executive Producers and Producers are sanctioned as the relevant laws permit. New Telegraph acknowledges that passion and talent, academic/ professional training, are among the chief drivers of personal success in any human endeavour.

But academic/professional training, to certain extent, is held in reverence for it is usually required for the harnessing and nurturing of passion and talent. Some actors and actresses are non-creative/theatre arts discipline driven by passion and talent; they have given a good account of themselves. Some of them have contributed maximally to the creative industry that they are studied and researched on by students at the undergraduate, postgraduate and post-doctoral levels. Nothing helps establish a beacon of professional standard and dignity as well as beckons global respect to a profession as academic/professional training.

NFVCB and the scholars of creative/theatre arts should collaborate to institute crash programmes for practising and well established actors and actresses leading to the acquisition of certificates or diplomas at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. New entrants should be made to study, at least, for a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) Honours Degree in Creative/Theatre Arts before going into acting. NFVCB and the scholars of Creative/ Theatre Arts, Sociology, History and Philosophy should not lower their guards but help institute a series of Mandatory Professional Development Programmes (MPDPs) for the dramatis personae in the movie industry.

Imported foreign movies should be subjected to the critical evaluation of experts in different fields to ascertain them fit for local viewing. The different tiers of administration should be encouraged to set-up monitoring teams to help ensure a zero tolerance for the production, distribution, sale and consumption of culturallyoffensive movies across Nigeria. We are confident that the above measures, if diligently implemented will help to save Nigeria from the cultural colonialism that is unleashed on the country through culturallyoffensive acts like smoking, wearing of indecent dresses by female actors, ritual killing, according reverence to those displaying ill-gotten wealth among others.

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