Report: FG bans film on fuel subsidy scam, threatens producer (READ, WATCH)

by Hauwa Gambo

Director_Ishaya_Bako

A review of a document from the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), a federal agency, seems to indicate that the Federal Government is fighting a documentary on fuel subsidy politics and corruption in Nigeria, a Premium Times report states.

The Nigerian government has banned the airing and distribution of the documentary, Fueling Poverty, a 30-minute film which documents the massive poverty in Nigeria and advocates against corruption and greed in the country.

The documentary, released late in 2012, was produced by young filmmaker, Ishaya Bako, in partnership with the Open Society for West Africa [OSIWA].

After the project was completed last year, Mr. Bako sent it in to the National Film and Video Censors Board, NFVCB, a national agency which vets,  classifies, and approves films and videos meant for distribution and exhibition in Nigeria.

But in an April 8 letter to Mr. Bako, exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES Friday, the agency prohibited the distribution and exhibition of the documentary in Nigeria, saying its contents “are highly provocative and likely to incite or encourage public disorder and undermine national security.”

According to the report, “The letter, signed by the NFVCB’s Head of Legal Services, Effiong Inwang, warned the filmmaker against violating the order, saying “all relevant national security agencies are on the alert. A copy of this letter has been sent to the Director General, Department of State Services and the Inspector General of Police for their information.”

“The banning of the documentary, seen by critics as further evidence of Nigeria’s creeping descent into dictatorship,  came on the same day that four journalists of Abuja-based Leadership newspaper were detained by the police for refusing to name their source for a story which alleged the presidency was plotting to sabotage the merger of the leading opposition parties in the country.”

[READ: Leadership Newspaper should not get away with this voodoo journalism, by Reuben Abati]

This is particularly interesting, following the Leadership-Federal Government stand-off that led to police arrests and an international outcry earlier this week.

Watch the documentary HERE.

 

One comment

  1. Thanks to the internet. But for the social media, the Nigerian govt would have succeeded in preventing the people from seeing “the dirty and smelly yeanch of those in power in Nigeria ” I only wish and pray that this documentary be made possible for us to download into our pc or BB for future reference; especially come year 2015.

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