Alhaji Adedayo Thomas, executive director, National Film and Video Censors Board ((NFVCB) has called on Engr. Abdullahi Sule , governor of Nasarawa State, to establish Nasarawa State Film Classification Board in order to harness opportunities in the industry.

Nasarawa is contiguous to the nation’s capital resulting in inflow and outflow of businesses from both sides.

According to Thomas, the essence of creating a film classifications board is to oversee the development of movie industry in the state, preserve and protect cultural and moral values of the state, thereby creating more jobs, boosting the state revenue base and projecting cultural her values to the world.

He gave this call at the phase 11 of the Nassarawa Youth Empowerment and Capacity Building Programme held earlier in the week at Canal Olympia, Mararaba, Nasarawa state, adding that the programme entails the sensitasation of youths on the importance of film classification and censorship and the various openings in the film and video sector that they can leverage to empower themselves.

Thomas said he believes there is an urgent need to tap into the inherent opportunities and gains in the film industry for the state, noting that Nigeria is now the new emerging film market in the global space.

“It is in our interest that this development will underpin the people driven policies and strides of the government and endear it more to the people of the state”, he said.

The event, with the theme, ‘Revisiting the Fundamentals of Cinema Culture’, is a prelude to the grand opening of a 300-seater capacity green multipurpose cinema by Canal Olympia.

“This cinema would be an innovative, modern and multipurpose space for talent incubation and home for new and emerging talents. It has the modest potential to create 100,000 direct and indirect jobs within the Mararaba and Karu axis of Nasarawa State alone, with its attendant huge revenue streams to the federal and state governments. The cinema is expected to be completed in November 2019, while operations will commence in December 2019.

“Nigeria Film Industry has enjoyed tremendous success including the reported 758.1 million naira realised from movie sales at weekends between January -March 2919 alone; while the Nigerian film industry recently surpassed India’s Bollywood to become the second largest film industry on the planet after Hollywood, with Nollywood marking up 5% of Nigeria’s total GDP and creating about five million jobs.

Giving account of the board so far, he said the 2018 revenue increased by about 25.5% from that of 2017 to about $3.8 billion, explaining that the board has since the inception of the current management classified a total of 1851 films.

This he said is a sharp rise from an annual average of 30 percent despite the industry churning out about 1,600 movies yearly.

“The number of approved screens has surged from five to about forty five. While are not resting on our oars and have set a target to increase this number exponentially, we are confident that the improvements are all signs of the growing confidence in the board and the security of the market for investment, having improved on our media literacy and sensitization drive by directly reaching out to the underserved in terms of information dissemination, public enlightenment and reenergizing our enforcement and compliance activities”.

The Governor of Nasarawa State commended the National Film and Video Censors Board for the initiative aimed at sanitising our youths and women on the imperative of film classification and censorship including various opportunities in the film and video sector which our youth could leverage to empower themselves for self-reliance and prosperity.

He added that the upsurge in the industry calls for appropriate regulation and censorship to guard against piracy and other abuse capable of undermining the culture and tradition of people.