The Honorable Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Bar. Hanatu Musa Musawa has approved licensing waiver for investors wishing to establish cottage or community cinema in the country. Dr. Husseini Shaibu, Executive Director of the National Film and Video Censors Board, announced this development in Lafia, Nassarawa state during a meeting with stakeholders. The ED said the waiver approval is in line with President Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s agenda of improving the playing field on which people and particularly companies operate. He also stated that waiver approval aligns with the ministers’ agenda of providing incentives needed to encourage investment in the creative industry, improve revenue generation for government and the filmmakers, as well as create jobs for youths across the country. Husseini re-echoed how passionate the Minister has been working tirelessly to reposition Nigeria as Africa’s creative capital and a global creative hub. The Executive Director noted that the decision to grant a licensing waiver would have a huge multiplier effect in the bottom rung of the cinema exhibitor pyramid. “This and other incentives the Minister has promised will no doubt fuel the expansion of Cinema screens and promote wider screening of Nollywood films at the local box office,” Husseini said adding that following the approval by the Minister, the Board has granted a provisional approval to an investor to test run a community cinema project for a period of twelve months. He noted that following favorable results of that experience, the Board had to make recommendations to the Honorable Minister to grant waivers to stakeholders to open up the film exhibition space, especially for local content.
Husseini recalled that the issue came up informally during the recently concluded Morality and Ethics in Film Production round-table with stakeholders in Lagos. The Executive Director had advocated to stakeholders to consider the establishment of Community Cinemas as a low hanging fruit to bring cinemagoers in communities, towns, and villages back to the big screen. Citing instances in other climes like India, where there are community cinemas standing side by side with the established cinemas, Husseini noted that operators of community Cinema can collaborate with the established cinema owners to bring a distinct cinematic experience to cinema enthusiasts. Husseini averred that it was after the Board aggregated all the demands and requests that the Board sought the consent of the Honorable Minister for a waiver to revive the sector, and the request was granted same day. Husseini noted that the gesture by the Honorable Minister would no doubt stimulate the film industry by incentivising cinema companies.
The Executive Director also hinted that the Board had also sent a proposal to the Honorable Minister for a reduction in the exhibition and distribution license fees payable by operators to further open up the space. Husseini described these policies as smart strategic decisions by the Honorable Minister to reignite and stimulate investment in the sector.
Husseini noted that the Honorable Minister has been supportive of the Board, stressing that the management has received her blessings to rejig the sector and undertake a number of reforms. One of the reforms that the board has already started implementing is the reduction in classification time for film and video works. “We have already reduced duration or what they call the come back time for film classification to a maximum of 48 hours for full feature films and same day classification for dramatized short content (skits) and musical videos. We have also introduced online submissions to make things easier for filmmakers and content creators” Husseini said adding that the Board will continue to engage filmmakers and content creators on the need for them to submit their films and video works for classification before exhibition either on the traditional or digital platforms.
Formally established in 1994, the National Film and Video Censors Board is a parastatal of the Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Creative.
Ogbonna Onwumere
Director, Corporate Affairs.