Shaibu Husseini: Lack of structure in Nigeria’s film industry makes it difficult to regulate

Shaibu Husseini, the executive director of the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), says it is difficult to regulate Nigeria’s movie and video content industry because it is “largely upcoming and unstructured”.

In an interview with TheCable, Husseini said technology has lowered the industry’s entry barriers and made everyone a filmmaker.

He said to make the industry more structured and easy to regulate, he said practitioners in the industry must belong to a guild.

“Regulating Nigeria’s film industry is huge because the film space is largely upcoming and unstructured,” he said.

“You conclude talks with one group and another has already emerged and called themselves filmmakers. They have democratised filmmaking.

“Now with a 4K phone, you can be a filmmaker. Make a good one. A distributor picks it up. Tomorrow, you become a superstar.

“Technology has made it so easy that everyone is now a filmmaker. You can go directly from script to filming. This was not always the case. You can create content in your room and upload it.

“You don’t even need a distributor or marketer. And there is no single collective to which you can say all film people belong.

“NFBCB law demands that you have an affiliation for your film to be classified. You must belong to a guild that is not proscribed.

“We need these structures, so the industry is better organised. Even the guilds have members who still bypass NFVCB. We can’t police everyone but we’re getting there.”