This week’s Inside Nollywood feature is unlike previous versions. The following paragraph’s are culled from a NYTimes article HERE
Nigeria’s movie industry — often dubbed Nollywood — has been a source of pride and escape for years for many of Nigeria’s 160 million residents. But the recent banning of a Nigerian documentary on corruption and the country’s oil wealth, “Fuelling Poverty,” has left many crying foul.
“Fuelling Poverty,” a 30-minute film depicting the massive street protests in 2012 over the removal of billions of dollars in oil subsidies had been online for months before the director, Ishaya Bako, was told he could not screen it at home.
The film, which features Nobel Prize laureate Wole Soyinka and civil rights activists, explores the siphoning of billions of dollars from government coffers to private companies.
It can be seen in its entirety here but is “prohibited from exhibition in Nigeria” according to officials from the National Film and Video Censors Board.
…yes, this is a documentary but let’s not imagine that such censorship is not extended to Nollywood movies.
“The 30-minute film called “Fuelling Poverty” has been online for months, but only recently Nigerian officials have refused its director permission to show it publicly in this oil-rich nation of more than 160 million people. While free speech is enshrined in this democratic nation’s constitution, an ever-increasing drumbeat of complaints and critical articles about the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan has seen authorities increasingly target journalists and others.
Ishaya Bako, who directed the film that features civil rights activists and Nobel Prize laureate Wole Soyinka, later applied for the right to show the film publicly. In a letter dated April 8, Nigeria’s National Film and Video Censors Board told Bako that the documentary was “prohibited for exhibition in Nigeria.”
“I am further to inform you that this decision is due to the fact that the contents of the film are highly provocative and likely to incite or encourage public disorder and undermine national security,” the letter signed by board lawyer Effiong Inwang reads. “Please you are strongly advised not to distribute or exhibit the documentary film. All relevant national security agencies are on the alert.”
Watch The Full Movie Below For Free
INSIDE NOLLYWOOD
This is the fourth in the inside nollywood series.
Next week we conclude the series with our final part – The Audience Split
Inside Nollywood: The Audience Split
Inside Nollywood: The Brand Nollywood
