He made the statement at the public burning of unwholesome and unapproved movies and video works worth N100 million in Lagos. According to Thomas, majority of those films imported are unapproved and illegal, The Nation reports.
Some of the items destroyed included multiple-in-one films, unclassified foreign, local and pornographic films, all in DVDs and CDs format. According to him, many of the burnt products were pornographic with other obnoxious materials illegally imported into the country.
“Most of these foreign films are uncensored, smuggled into the country without rightful permission; therefore, it must be totally banned. It’s against the growth of this country to ship in foreign films without censorship and permission of the property right of the owner. This has caused reductions in our rating, in term of the intellectual property right.
The ones allowed are the ones in the cinema because we are able to manage the cinema and censor it. Therefore, parents and guardians must ensure their children/wards consume only films and video works classified by the National Film and Video Censors Board.” he said
He revealed that the board has arrested five offenders at Alaba Market and charged them to court while some other retailers were placed on training so as to sensitise them on the kind of products they are supposed to be selling.
Thomas said the burning exercise was recently held in Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt, Benin, Sokoto and it will be a continuous exercise so as to stamp out the distribution of these items to safeguard our future as a nation and to also send a strong message to miscreants who feast on other people’s sweat.
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