Adedayo Thomas (NFVCB) : "Nigeria has come of age in the film industry"

Adedayo Thomas is Executive director at National Film and Video Censors Board. He talked to us about the situation of Nigerian classic cinema.

What did attract the National Film and Video Censor Board to come to MIFC for the first time this year?

Nigeria has come of age in the film industry, which started decades ago from folktales to stage performance, cinema and video works but has not really tap into the opportunities of classic section of the industry.  

What is the importance of the classic movies on the Nigerian film market?

With the new global trend in the movie industry, the Nigerian classic movies have almost been relegated by the current developmental waves in the movie industry. However, with the growing demand of Nigeria content because of its’ deep cultural and moral value, the re-birth of the market value of the classic is on. This will eventually snowball into tremendous and multi-dimensional economic and social grown of the Nigerian Film sector. The classics movies are far worth investing into then the current feature, though production then might be poor but modern technology has proved to solve those challenges.

How does the National Film and Video Censor Board regulate the release of classic movies? Is there any different rules between Nigerian classic movies and international classic movies?  

There are no different rules to our classification and censorship. We also don’t regulate the numbers of films that comes out.  Our regulation is not to kill movie business or creative industry but to give it the best practice gear towards economic growth of the country and of course, protect our best moral and cultural identity. It is in this view that we rate films as followings: G-General viewing, PG- Parental Guidance required, 12-Persons 12 years, 12A- Persons 12 years and above, 15- Persons 15 years and above, 18-Mature audience, RE-Restricted.

What could the Nigeria do to promote even more its classic cinema outside of its frontiers?

The ease of doing business in Nigeria generally has changed and the creative industry has been taking the advantages created by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. There is tax intensive for investors and freedom to build on the government efforts is the attendance of the MIFC by our staff and stakeholders to learn the best practice network with classic cinema outside the country and tap on other opportunities for our local industry. This is why MIFC is our major first step. One of such efforts is making the entry of foreigners (Distributors/Marketers and other stakeholders) in film industry very easy. At NFVCB, we make entry visa easy/possible, guarantee ease access to local stakeholder, provide platform to other government agencies should it be necessary.