By Josephine Obute
Lagos – Nigerians have called on the National Film Video Censors Board (NFVCB) to protect the sensibilities of their children by taking urgent step to stop obscene music videos and films from being aired on radio and television stations.
These Nigerians that include mothers, up-and-coming artistes and veterans in the entertainment industry, condemned some contents of contemporary Nigerian music videos.
They spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday.
A mother of girls, Mrs Tina Emejom, said that some current musical videos did not have moral lessons to teach the young ones, only displaying half-nude dancers.
“Most of our local music videos are too lurid and obscene and because of that, we have continued to discourage our children, especially the young ones, from watching them.
“It is not that they are not nice or interesting but because of the content. They focus too much on ladies and men who expose the sensitive areas of their bodies.’’
According to her, we do not want a situation whereby our children will go out there and start dancing erotic styles and touching each other’s sensitive parts of their bodies.
She said such videos could only be watched when the children had gone to bed as they would not add value to the moral upbringing of young children.
She advised young artistes who wanted to produce music videos to reduce the erotic content which only advertises naked bodies and immoral dance styles.
Also, another parent, Mrs Ruth Isibor, blamed the NFVCB for approving most of these music videos.
“When these young musicians are given strict conditions to follow in the production of their music videos, they will check their contents and ensure they do not derail,” she told NAN.
Mr Andy Odugwu, a father, told NAN that such exquisite videos did not project the true image, culture and the tradition of Nigeria to the international world.
“The films produced by our young men and women are not really educative neither are they morally stable for our kids, coupled with the fact that they do not promote African culture,” he said.
According to him, only some artists try to toe the line of veteran musicians like King Sunny Ade and others.
An up-and coming-artist, Idopise Emmanuel, popularly called “Mr Jack” told NAN that the influence was from foreign videos.
“I think they are influence by foreign music but the bad side of it is that some embraced it more than the originators.
“All this is done just to meet international status. I think government should go the extra mile and ban such musical videos which do not really have positive impacts on our society,” he said.
Similarly, a hip-pop artist, Daniel Nluma, noted that lyrics of such music were determinants of the content of the videos.
“I do not see any good reason for musical artists to be promoting nude boys and girls in their music videos, it does not portray any good moral values.
“The fact is that these music videos are actually from the lyrics itself ,so it is not the director’s fault, but artist who focuses more on women and love,” he said.
Nluma, popularly known as “Danny Hilz” on stage, noted that the trend in the industry was to praise material things and expressing love in videos.
NAN reports that NFVCB is the regulatory body set up by Act No.85 of 1993 to regulate films and the video industry in Nigeria.
The board is empowered by law to classify all films and videos whether imported or produced locally.
It is also the duty of the board to register all films and videos outlet across the country. (NAN)